HINTS 

TO 

COMMON SCHOOL TEACHERS, 

PARENTS AND PUPILS; 

OR 

GLEANINGS FROM 

SCHOOL-LIFE EXPERIENCE, 



BY 

HIRAM ORCUTT, A. M., 

PRINCIPAL OF NORTH GRANVILLE LADIES' SEMINARY. 



Teaching a Science"— The Teacher an Artist' 



REVISED EDITION. 



EUTLAND: 
GEO. A. TUTTLE & COMPANY. 

BKOWN, TAGGARD & CHASE, BOSTON. 
1859. 






Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1859, by 

Hiram Orcutt, 

In the Clerk's oflQce of the District court for the Northern District 

of New York. 






TO 
THE HUNDREDS OF HIS PUPILS, 

WHO, AS PRACTICAL TEACHERS, HAYE DONE HONOR 
TO THE PROFESSION, 

THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS RESrECTFULLY INSCRIBED 

BY THEIR FAITHFFL FRIEND AND FORMER 
TEACHER — THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 

This little book had its origin in experience. 
It was not, originally, written with a view to publi- 
cation but for the benefit of the Author's Normal 
Classes. The substance of these chapters has been 
recently published in the form of newspaper articles 
for the benefit of those employed in Teaching Dis- 
trict Schools in this vicinity. It is now republished 
in a more permanent form, by the solicitation of 
Teachers and friends, and with the hope of aiding 
the less experienced in the arduous and noble work 
of school-keeping. The Author does not aim to 
discuss, at length, the subjects here treated, but to 
present to the reader just what the title page indi- 
cates, some " Gleanings " from twenty years' exper i- 
ence, or practical "Hints" as to the management 
and instruction of "Common Schools," and the 
duties of Teachers, Parents and Pupils. 

XoRTH Graxville, X. Y., Aug, 15, 18-58. 



PREFACE TO THE ENLARGED EDITIOE 

A NEW edition of the "Gleanings" has been 
called for much earlier than was expected ; yet, a 
a revision is undertaken with cheerfulness and hope, 
in view of the marked flivor with which the first 
edition has been received. The Author acknowl- 
edges that the book was too small to allow him to 
do justice to the important subjects treated ; too 
small for the price which the Publishers were 
obliged to charge for it. To remove these objec- 
tions, the work has been enlarged one-half —h'om 
72 to 144 pages — and a large edition is published. 
Though containing twice as much reading matter, 
it will be sold for the same. The book has been 
rewritten and one entirely new chapter (upon Study 
and Recitation) inserted, which, it is believed, will 
greatly enhance its value. 

The Author has not departed from his original 
plan in the present edition ; the book will still be 
found concise and eminently practical, containing 



VI. PREFACE. 

more of tliought than discussion, more of sugges- 
tion than argument. The "Hints" are designed 
for three distinct classes, viz.: Teachers, Parents and 
Pupils, yet all are inclosed in one volume. The 
whole book is intended for each class, and is as appro- 
priate and important for one as the other. Each 
should know all that has been said to the others, as 
their relations are mutual and their interests insep- 
arable. 

Grateful for the favor shown his former efforts, 
the Author again submits this little volume to those 
for whom it was written, anxious only that it may 
aid in promoting the cause of Common School 
Education. 

The Author exceedingly regrets to notice that a 
few errors remain in the book uncorrected. 

March 1, 1859. 



CONTENTS. 
I. 

IMPORTANCE OF THE TEACHER'S WORK, - - 9 

tl. 
HIS NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS, 18 

III. 
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT, - 33 

IV. 
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE, ...- = ...... 50 

V. 
SCHOOL INSTRUCTION, '--.-...,.= 64 

VI. 
STUDY AND RECITATION, - ........ 89 

VII. 
CONCLUDING REMARKS TO TEACHERS, - - = 119 

VIII. 
OUR "COMMON SCHOOLS,"— TO PARENTS AND 
PUPILS, , 139 



I. 

IMPORTANCE OF TEACHERS' WORK. 

« 

The great Sculptor, Hiram Powers, has just 
completed the bust of the distinguished Edward 
Everett, which is said to be unsurpassed bj any 
artist, either in ancient or modern times. Yet, 
how much greater the work and more distin- 
guished the artist who aided in forming the mind 
and character of that same Everett, now acknowl- 
edged to be the greatest living orator. When but 
ten years old, young Everett sat before Daniel 
Webster and received from him, as his teacher, 
the rudiments of education. More than half 
a century afterwards, when both teacher and 
pupil had attained the most distinguished honors 
and the highest position among their fellow men, 
the one having passed off the stage of life, leav- 
ing the other without a living superior, the pupil 
sat for his bust before the artist Powers. 

2 



10 THE teacher's WOEK. 

And to whom shall we award the praise ? To 
the Artist or the Teacher ? to the distinguished 
Powers, or the immortal Webster and his co- 
laborers in the work of education ? We may 
admire the genius and skill of him who has taken 
the rude block of marble, cold from the quarry, 
and converted it into an almost breathing statue. 
Ages will venerate him ; time will pay him a 
tribute of respect; poesy will proudly rear a 
tablet to his memory, and history will adorn her 
pages with his eulogy. 

The Painter, who represents on canvas the 
beautiful creation of his own imagination, or the 
striking events of story, rears a monument to 
his own memory that will long endure and con- 
tinue to rise in loftier majesty and more fit pro- 
portions, from generation to generation. 

Still, how insignificant the work of the Artist 
when compared with that of the true Teacher. 
The one works upon stone or the canvas, the 
other upon the undying spirit ; the one creates 
the form and figure of the lifeless body, the 
other moulds the living character of the hero, 



11 

statesman and sage. The Artist attracts atten- 
tion as a man of genius, and his works are 
admired as evidence of inimitable skill ; but the 
memory of the faithful Teacher will be cherished 
with gratitude when all earthly distinctions shall 
be forgotten, and the results of his labors will 
endure forever. 

His material is no rude earthly substance to 
be fashioned by the chisel, or made to glow with 
animation by the pencil. It is his to mould the 
MIND, that emanation from Deity which, when 
developed, constitutes the intellect, the affections 
and the will; which denies relationship to any 
thing earthly, and claims kindred with the skies, 
and which, when all material foims shall decay, 
will continue to live and to glow in the brightness 
of progressive immortality. What then is the 
Sculptor's or Painter's art compared with his ? 
It is the Teacher's business to form the intellect, 
not to fashion a stone ; to guide the affections, 
not the pencil ; to stimulate conscience and give 
energy to will, not merely to make the lifeless 
eye speak in a group of figures, or the graces 



12 

sit enthroned on a marble brow. In a word, it 
is his to educate the human soul and fit it for its 
noble designs and destiny. From the canvas 
upon which he paints, no impression can be 
erased ; good or evil, truth or error, virtue or 
vice, it must ever remain. How important then 
the Teacher's work ! 

The Warrior, the Statesman and the Scholar, 
claim also a share of the world's homage. And 
may we erect triumphal arches to oar own 
Washington, who led our armies victorious over 
the slaughtered hosts of their enemies, and 
afterwards presided in our public Councils ? 
May we institute a great national festival, whose 
annual return is celebrated by bells, bonfires, 
illuminations and public rejoicings in view of the 
great work which our hero and statesman has 
accomplished ? May we purchase " Mount 
Yernon," that the great name of the " Father 
of our Country," may be forever associated with 
the home of his manhood, and that a mighty 
Nation may water his tomb with their grateful 
tears through all coming time ? It is well to do 



THE teacher's WORK. 13 

SO. But what avail the victories of our revolu- 
tion or our dear bought freedom ? What avail 
to rear monuments and consecrate public grounds 
to perpetuate the memory of our great national 
struggle and of the warriors and statesmen 
whom we delight to honor, if the Scliool be not 
established and the Teacher employed to prepare 
the people for the enjoyment and preservation 
of our liberties ? Self-government is not possi- 
ble without intelligence and virtue. Hence, 
great statesmen and victorious armies are of 
little value in any country, without efficient 
Teachers. Indeed, the Teacher has ever been 
the patron of society. To him has been com- 
mitted the work of training the mind and forming 
the character of each generation of American 
citizens, and at a period when the most suscep- 
tible of durable impressions. And our future 
citizens and rulers are now under his care and 
instruction. Their moral and intellectual char- 
acter must be moulded chiefly by his hand. To 
our Common Schools, we must look for those 
who will soon be called upon to manage the 



14 THE teacher's WORK. 

affairs of families, to transact the business of 
town and state, to fill the vacated Bench of 
Justice, to sit in the Halls of Legislation, and 
to direct and control the Church of God. 

Upon the character of our Schools and Teach- 
ers^ therefore, depends the weal or woe of unborn 
millions ; the prosperity or downfall of our 
boasted Institutions. 

And if, as some one has told us, " to educate 
a child perfectly requires profounder thought, 
greater wisdom than to conquer an Empire or 
govern a State," what place among the honored 
of our nation and the benefactors of our race, 
shall we assign to the efficient Teacher ? May 
the profound scholar, who retires from the strifes 
and conflicts of life and spends his strength for 
the public weal, win from us his mead of praise ? 
And shall we not honor him also who consecrates 
himself to the great work of cultivating mind 
and training American citizens for their peculiar 
duties and responsibilities ? 

The late Dr. Channing once said, " One of 
the surest signs of the regeneration of society 



15 

will be the elevation of the art of teaching to 
the highest rank in the community. When a 
people shall learn that its greatest benefactors 
and most important members are men devoted 
to the liberal instruction of all its classes, to the 
work of raising to life its buried intellect, it will 
have opened to itself the path of true glory. 
Socrates is now regarded the greatest man in an 
age of great men. To teach, whether hy word 
or action, is the greatest function on earthJ'^ 

There is another view of our subject which 
magnifies the Teacher's work still more. Teach- 
ing is the source of our most valuable attainments 
and greatest blessings. Who does not owe a 
debt of gratitude to the Teacher f Look on the 
favored portions of our country, and ask whence 
the general intelligence, virtue, order and hap- 
piness that characterize the people ? whence 
these countless privileges, innumerable sources 
of enjoyment and thousands of smiling, happy 
homes that meet our eye ? Do they not all 
emanate from our Schools ? Are they not the 
result of Teaching ? 



16 THE teacher's WORK. 

We are accustomed to look with pride upon 
the noble phalanx of educated men and women 
who have done so much to elevate and honor 
our country. Our Editors, Authors, Orators 
and Statesmen have an imposing character and 
commanding influence ; our professional men 
are distinguished for learning, skill and ability, 
and many of them have gained a world wide 
and enduring reputation. But are not all these 
the workmanship of the Teacher? The com- 
parative importance of the Teacher's work will 
be best illustrated by the following fable : 

" When Jupiter offered the prize of immor- 
tality to him who was the most useful to mankind, 
the court of Olympus was crowded with com- 
petitors. The warrior boasted of his patriotism, 
but Jupiter thundered ; the rich man boasted of 
his munificence, and Jupiter showed him the 
widow's mite ; the pontiff held up the keys of 
heaven, and Jupiter pushed the doors wide open ; 
the painter boasted of his power to give life to 
inanimate canvas, and Jupiter breathed aloud in 
derision ; the Sculptor boasted of making gods 



THE teacher's WORK. 17 

that contended with the immortals for hmnan 
homage, Jupiter frowned ; the orator boasted of 
his power to sway the nation with his voice, and 
Jupiter marshaled the obedient host of heaven 
with a word ; the poet spoke of his power to 
move even the gods by praise, Jupiter blushed ; 
the musician claimed to practice the only human 
science that had been transplanted to heaven, 
Jupiter hesitated ; when seeing a venerable man 
looking with intense interest upon the group of 
competitors but presenting no claims, ' "What art 
thou ? ' said the benignant monarch. ' Only a 
spectator,' replied the gray headed sage ; ' all 
these were my pupils.' ' Croivn him, crown him^^ 
said Jupiter ; ' crown the faithful Teacher with 
immortality, and make room for him at my right 
hand!'" 



II. 

HIS NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 

More depends upon what the Teacher is, 
than upon what he does. Like the poet, he is 
endowed by nature with the most important 
quaUfications for his work, nascitur non fit. 
This natural talent may be cultivated but can 
not be created by education. 

The true Teacher has a large share of common 
sense, or as some would call it, good judgment. 
This is practical wisdom — a sort of instinct as 
to the fitness and propriety of things. It teaches 
its possessor to do the right thing at the right 
time. It acts in the real and not in the roman- 
tic world, and adapts one to circumstances, to 
society and to duty. 

There are many opportunities for its exercise 
in the school-room ; many instances when the 
want of it imperils the Teacher, or proves his 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 19 

ruin. A question of political or judicial economy 
is about to be settled in his little empire ; he has 
no time for consultation with older and more 
experienced teachers ; no time to read books on 
the " Theory and Practice of Teaching ;" the 
question must be settled without delay ; the 
existence of his authority, and his destiny as a 
teacher, depends upon prompt and judicious 
action. Under such circumstances, sound com- 
mon sense is the teacher's only security. 

The successful Teacher has an earnest devo- 
tion to his work. The employment is congenial 
to his tastes ; he has a natural love for the office 
for its own sake ; the detail of school-room life 
is pleasant ; intercourse with the pupils, a social 
and intellectual gratification ; teaching an agree- 
able exercise, and the consciousness of having 
contributed to the intellectual and moral good 
of the young, his ample reward. If this is not 
the case, if the teacher's tastes, interests and 
ambition are not in his employment, no amount 
of talent, no intellectual attainments, can fit 
him to instruct and manage a school. 



20 NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 

A cheerful and hopeful disposition is also 
essential to success in teaching. The radiant 
smile of cheerfulness is the sunlight of the 
school-room which diffuses itself through the 
atmosphere, and is reflected from every coun- 
tenance. It wakes to new life the slumbering 
energies of the mind and creates an abiding 
interest in the duties and scenes of school-life. 
The cheerful teacher makes his pupils cheerful, 
but sadness and discouragement on his counte- 
nance, burden the mental atmosphere with gloom 
and chill the verj life-blood of vigorous thought. 

Hope is also an essential element in the 
teacher's character. He must be inspired with 
faith in human nature and human progress ; in 
the moral and intellectual capacity of his pupils ; 
in the power of good instruction and good exam- 
ple to improve and elevate the mind, and in the 
vast importance of his own sphere of influence 
in educating and forming the character of those 
committed to his charge. Hope built upon such 
faith IS strong and poAverful as a stimulus to effi- 
cient action. 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 21 

A natural and earnest sympathy with the 
young is another vakiable trait in the character 
of the teacher. With him life should ever be 
young. He must be fond of the society of 
children and youth ; must partake largely of 
their hopes, their joys and their enthusiasm, and 
must be sensitively alive to all that interests or 
troubles them. Such a teacher has a sympathy, 
an interest, an affection for his pupils which will 
create in their minds corresponding feelings, and 
give him power and influence over them that can 
be gained in no other way. He can mingle in 
their sports without losing his dignity or author- 
ity ; can reprove and correct them without 
provoking their ill will. Such a master will 
succeed. 

Aptness to teach is also a gift of nature, still 
it may be improved by culture. Quickness of 
perception and accurate knowledge are impor- 
tant, but the most brilliant scholars are not, 
usually, the best teachers. The power to com- 
municate and instruct so as to gain the attention 
and wake up the mind of the pupil, is the 



22 NECESSAEY QUALIFICATIONS. 

indispensable gift to which we allude. This 
enables the teacher to adapt his instructions to 
the peculiarities of his pupils. Some need 
encouragement, others caution, and still others 
rebuke, according as they are timid, am.bitious, 
or self-sufficient. Aptness to teach implies skill 
in the selection and use of illustration. It 
guides the teacher as to the amount of instruc- 
tion to be given, that he may not make the task 
of the pupil too easy, but simply possible. In 
a word, it instructs him when to teach, hoiv to 
teach, and how much to teach. * 

Earnestness and perseverance are among the 
necessary qualities in the teacher. 

These qualities are indispensable to success in 
any department of labor. Look where you will 
for examples, the same truth is illustrated. The 
earnest man succeeds ; the indolent, though pos- 
sessed of more talents and greater attainments, 
often fails. The earnest and determined teacher 
not only performs much more labor in the same 
time, but inspires all around him with his own 
spirit. He infuses life and animation into the 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 23 

minds of all, awakens new interest in study and 
exerts a commanding influence Avliicli is felt not 
only in the school-room, but also in the district 
and town w^here he resides. He is a living, 
breathing, acting spirit. Enthusiasm {^Crod in 
us] has taken possession of his soul. He has 
caught the divine idea of education and feels a 
divine solicitude to acquit himself in a manner 
corresponding to the importance of his work. 

His earnestness and eagerness to accomplish 
his object, call forth a corresponding effort. No 
obstacles intimidate, no difficulties discourage 
him ; he feels no misgivings, he knows no defeat. 
Such a teacher has power by his presence to 
create order out of confusion, and to make his 
school popular, profitable and successful. 

The efficient teacher must have a sound and 
well cultivated mind. 

A sound mind is not only the foundation of 
true manhood, but the source of all successful 
effi)rts. It is conceded that respectable talents 
are necessary to fit the young man for successful 
business, or efficiency in any one of the mechan- 



24 NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 

ical arts or professions. For the factory, the 
workshop, the counting-room, we demand young 
persons of talent, and can less be required of 
those who are to occupy the important position 
of teachers ? 

And this mind must be cultivated ; must 
acquire the power to think, to analyze and 
reason. An undisciplined mind is unfit to edu- 
cate other minds. It cannot appreciate the 
importance of systematic culture, or employ the 
means necessary to secure it. Without the 
power and habit of well regulated thought, the 
teacher can himself have no available knowl- 
edge ; and if he had, could have no power to 
impart it to others. Hence, every teacher should 
be thoroughly disciplined by mathematical and 
classical study. These furnish the most direct 
means of securing mental discipline. 

But discipline is not the only advantage 
derived from such studies. The study of Latin 
is indispensable to a thorough knowledge of the 
English language, and the most successful way 
to learn that language. To illustrate, allow any 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 25 

two individuals of equal age and equal capacity 
to commence the study of the English language 
with a vieAV to make the greatest possible attain- 
ments in two years. The one may study English 
grammar during the whole time, and under 
proper instruction ; the other may spend his 
first year (one-half the time allowed) in the 
study of Latin ; the second year he may spend 
in the study of English, and the latter will be 
the better English grammarian when the tw^o 
years have expired. The study of the higher 
mathematics is of great service to the Common 
School Teacher. It adds strength and vigor to 
his mental powers, and affords him a knowledge 
of the principles necessary to explain arithmetic 
and the practical natural sciences. 

The facts and principles of the branches to be 
taught must be thoroughly understood. And, 
if the teacher w^ould do himself full justice, he 
must extend his knowledge far beyond his pres- 
ent necessity and requisitions. He cannot teach 
clearly in the twilight of his own knowledge, nor 
communicate more definite information than he 
3 



26 NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 

himself possesses. All branches of science are 
connected. No one l^ranch can be properly 
taught and illustrated without the aid of others. 
With a knowledge of the lesson to be taught, 
merely, the teacher may be able to throw some 
light upon the subject before him, but it is like the 
light of the sun where there is no atmosphere to 
diffuse and reflect it — all in one direction, and 
total darkness everywhere else. The range of 
the teacher's studies should, therefore, be exten- 
sive, and his knowledge liberal. He should be 
familiar with all the principles that can aid m 
the explanation of the subjects to be taught. 
He should gather up and preserve all attainable 
facts and incidents to be found in the wide field 
of science and history. All passing events 
should be preserved for use in the school-room. 

In a word, the teacher should be constantly 
reading^ observing and thinking, for the benefit 
of his pupils and the honor of his profession. 

Another desirable quality in a School-Teacher 
is self-respect. This implies a consciousness of 
integrity which makes one strong in the discharge 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 27 

of his duties ; it gives its possessor noble aims 
and honorable motives, and enables him to hold 
a commanding position among his pupils, and to 
exert a healthful influence over them. Self- 
respect also implies self-reliance, or a confidence 
in one's OAvn ability and qualifications for his 
office. Such a teacher is not ostentatious, but 
simply self-confident. Difficulties do not intimi- 
date nor disturb him, because he feels himself 
adequate to surmount them. He rightly judges 
himself worthy of his own confidence and es- 
teem, and is sure to gain the respect and confi- 
dence of his pupils, so necessary to his success 
and usefulness. 

Self-respect is intimately connected with self- 
control. This, also, is essential to success in 
school-keeping. Without it, a master is like a 
ship without a helm. In calm weather he may 
experience no serious difficulty, but when the 
storm comes and the winds blow, as surely they 
will, he has no security from wreck and ruin 
but in his own self-possession. The teacher 
whose mind is thoroughly disciplined and well 



28 NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 

balanced, can command his knowledge ; can 
apply himself to any subject, whether literary 
or judicial. His understanding, reason and 
judgment are ready for any emergency ; hence 
his efficiency. 

Self-control also gives authority. To be qual- 
ified to govern others, the master must govern 
himself, his temper and his tongue. His power 
to quell a raging tumult or crush a rebellion lies 
in his coolness. Authority is undoubtedly a gift, 
of nature ; but it is, in a measure, the result of 
other cardinal and cultivated qualities : principle, 
decision, independence, dignity, disinterested- 
ness and refinement are all commanding ; they 
give power and impression to the Avhole man ; 
they speak out in his eye, his step, his voice and 
in all his movements and expressions. Such 
self-respect and such self-control gain for the 
teacher his true position as instructor and gov- 
ernor of his school. After all, the teacher, to 
be efficient, must be professionally educated. 

De Witt Clinton has said, " Teaching ought 
to be among the learned professions." And 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 29 

why not? May we require a young man to 
pass through a course of professional training 
before he can practice law or medicine, or be- 
come a respectable mechanic, and yet require 
no special training of the teacher, whose profes- 
sion is more important than any other ? 

Must the lawyer make himself familiar with 
constitutional principles and legislative enact- 
ments, in order to be qualified to settle our 
difficulties ; must the physician understand the 
laws of our physical being, the nature of disease 
and its remedies, in order to be allowed to 
administer to the health of the body ; must the 
mechanic serve a three years' apprenticeship 
before he is allowed 'to build a house? And 
shall the teacher, to whom is committed the 
great work of training the human mind for life 
and immortality, during the most impressible 
and formative period of its existence, be allowed 
no siyeclal preparation ? 

It is a serious reflection upon the boasted intel- 
ligence of American mind, that so little interest 
is felt upon this subject, rnd so large a proportion 



30 NECESSARY QUALIFICATIOXS. 

of all our teachers are entirely unfitted for tlieir 
responsible duties. Teacliing should be recog- 
nized as a 2^^''ofession ;. the teacher should be 
satisfied with nothing short of a thorough ^jro- 
fessional education ; and, when fully qualified, 
he should receive that compensation and encour- 
agement which his self-sacrifice and devotion to 
the good of the rising generation so richly merit. 
While he honors his profession he should be 
honored for the sake of it. But the mere 
" novice in the trade " who has chosen teaching 
only to avoid more unpleasant labor, or to gain 
the means to accomplish the object of his own 
personal ambition, having no interest in the 
business or idea of his responsibility, should be 
driven from the field as unworthy the high posi- 
tion which he occupies. Why should not the 
profession of teaching be as exalted, and be 
made as exclusive as any other ? No good 
reason can be assigned. 

Last but not least among the necessary quali- 
fications of the school-teacher here to be enume- 
rated, is moral and christian character. Every 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 31 

■teacher should be a model of excellence. No 
position in life demands higher attainments, as 
none commands a more important influence. 
Children are fine copyists. They receive their 
earliest and most durable impressions by imita- 
tion. Their teacher is always sitting or standing 
before them for his likeness. The impressions 
of his feelings, principles and character, and 
especially the defects in his character, are left, 
in the ambrotype of the school-room, upon the 
imperishable tablets of the immortal mind. The 
pupil may be expected to exhibit his teacher 
before the world. He often assumes his airs, 
imitates his tones, habits, and almost his very 
looks. He copies his roughness, stereotypes 
his oddities and perpetuates his errors and blun- 
ders. The results of these early impressions 
and of this influence will be felt upon future 
generations. The teacher is doing his most 
important work, then, when he seems to be idle. 
And let it not be forgotten, that education 
does not begin with the alphabet, nor end when 
the scholar takes his diploma. It consists not 



32 NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 

entirely in tasks and recitations. Character, 
teaches; intelligence, p eness, candor, mag- 
nanimity, veracity, kinuness, worship, moral and 
christian integrity, all have an important, plastic 
power in the school-room. But " these are no 
juvenile graces meant to be set on children's 
breasts by grown-up teachers on whose own lives 
their glory never gleams." If we would culti- 
vate in our children that christian morality which 
alone can exalt their character and fit them for 
usefulness and happiness in life ; if we hope to 
see them respected and honored for their integ- 
rity and virtue, and if we would, through them, 
transmit to coming generations, the fruits and 
blessings of our holy religion, we must demand 
teachers who possess the principles and spirit of 
true piety. 

No person, therefore, should presume to enter 
upon the responsibilities of the teacher's office 
who has not, in active exercise, every principle 
of true manhood, every element of a noble 
character, mental, moral and religious. 



III. 

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

By School Management we mean much more 
than is expressed by school government. The 
former includes the latter. If a school is prop- 
erly managed, it is of course, well governed. 
But strict government may sometimes be found 
in connection with bad management. 

It is the object of school management to gain 
such an influence in the district and such autho- 
rity in the school-room, as will prevent the 
necessity of discipline, and secure the improve- 
ment of the scholars. That teacher who has 
managed judiciously from the time he formed 
his first acquaintance with parent or pupil, until 
he is firmly established in his school, has gained 
a position of commanding influence, and can 
now control his pupils and secure all the benefits 
4 



34 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

of a well regulated school, seemingly •without 
effort. But that teacher who relies solely upon 
his power to govern^ is driven to the necessity 
of governing, and discipline, not instruction, 
becomes his chief employment. This results in 
evil, even though he governs well : for his time 
is needed for more important purposes. 

If we visit the school-rooms of these two 
teachers, we shall find an almost perfect con- 
trast in the scenes there presented, but may be 
puzzled to know the cause. 

The master who is conscious that he has the 
love and confidence of his pupils and the power 
to control them, is at ease in the presence of his 
school. He seems to make no effort, yet there 
is no want of energy. His repose is totally 
unlike indolence ; his ease of manner has no 
shufiling or lounging in it ; his dignity is at the 
farthest possible remove from carelessness and 
indifference. There is manifest all the vitality 
and vigor of inward determination. This teacher 
talks but little, yet when he does speak, is always 
understood and instantly obeyed, Whe» he 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 85 

arrives, order begins. When he addresses an 
individual or a class, or raps upon the desk with 
his pencil, attention is given and quiet restored. 
In a word, by his presence merely, the three-fold 
office of school-keeping is achieved, without fric- 
tion or failure. Authority is secured, mental 
activity stimulated, and knowledge acquired. 
The teacher has gained his easy and controUing 
position by skillful management. 

We will now enter the school-room of the 
other. Some writer has described this master 
as " the incarnation of painful and laborious 
striving ; a conscious perturbation ; a principled 
paroxysm ; an embodied flutter ; a mortal stir ; 
an honest human hurly-burly." He has good 
intentions, and evidently tries hard to control 
his school. He talks much and loudly, and 
threatens and even executes severe penalties, 
but all his efforts only illustrate his personal 
impotency and despair. " His expostulations roll 
over the boys' consciences like obliquely shot 
bullets over the ice." What a contrast ! Yet, 
what is the difference ? This teacher seems to 



86 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

have the requisite quahfications as to talent and 
learning. It may be so, but it is evident that 
he has taken no pains to gain the esteem and 
confidence of his pupils ; has made no distinction 
between school government and school manage- 
ment. Hence his failure. 

How to manage so as to gain the desired 
object, is then, the important question. The 
teacher's success depends upon a thousand little 
things — upon all he says and does from the 
beginning to the end of his term of service. 
He begins to operate for good or evil for himself 
as soon as he enters the district and often before. 
It is fortunate for him if no influence or preju- 
dice, unfavorable to his success, has been brought 
to bear upon him before he forms a personal 
acquaintance with his patrons and pupils. Sure 
it is, everything that occurs in connection with 
them afterwards, tells upon his success or fail- 
ure. This may depend upon the impressions 
he leaves upon a single family, — the first whose 
acquaintance he forms, and before he enters the 
school at all. 



SCHOOL MANAGEMEXT. 37 

A young man from one of our academies had 
been employed to finish a school in which his 
predecessor had been unsuccessful. The school 
agent had conveyed him, a stranger, to his own 
house, as his first home in the district. His 
hostess had herself been a teacher and professed 
skill in the management of schools. Here was 
opportunity for our hero to gain the confidence 
and respect of an important patron, and thus 
secure her influence in his favor. But he did 
not feel the importance of such an effort, and 
hence took no pains to please. He soon allowed 
himself to engage in angry dispute with the 
good lady, in regard to the best method of con- 
ducting class recitation, which resulted, first, 
in a strong prejudice and determined hostility 
against him as a man and a teacher, and after- 
wards, in his dismissal from the school. But for 
this imprudence and want of common-sense, he 
might have been entirely successful, as his sub- 
sequent experience has shown. 

First impressions of the teacher and of his 
management in school are usually permanent, 
4* 



88 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

and hence verj important. Let this be remem- 
bered. 

The teacher should aim, in the first place, to 
gain the confidence and esteem of all with whom 
he meets ; for all have power to do him good or 
harm in his relations to the school. To this end, 
he should seek an early and familiar acquain- 
tance with all. In the school-room and by the 
way, his first object should be to gain the confi- 
dence of his pupils. It is through them that he 
must first act upon the parents. Every experi- 
enced teacher knows, that if he would gain the 
confidence of the father, he must first gain the 
respect of the mother ; and, to secure this 
object, he must gain the love of tlie child. 
Hence he spares no pains to win the affections 
of the children, in the school and in the family. 
He improves the earliest opportunity to visit 
them at their homes ; is social and familiar with 
all; adapts himself to the circumstances and 
peculiarities of each family, and manifests a 
deep interest in everything that interests them. 
He freely explains to parents his plans and 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 39 

measures for the improvement of their children, 
and thus gains their esteem and cooperation. 

If the teacher would manage to make his 
patrons and pupils his friends, and to interest 
them in the school, he must manifest an earnest 
devotion to his work, and show them bj his zeal 
and faithfulness that he labors for their good 
only ; must inspire them by his own living 
example, and bring them under his control by 
the power of generous sympathy. 

To the same end, the teacher must maintain 
a manly independence, wdiile he shows due 
respect to the opinions and feelings of those 
around him. The master is expected to under- 
stand his own busines^s, yet he should not regard 
himself beyond improvement, nor refuse to listen 
to suggestions made to him by his employers. 
He may act independent of their suggestions if 
he deems it his duty, but he should patiently 
listen. And, in regard to other subjects which 
may be called up in the family and neighborhood, 
he should never refuse to express his honest con- 
victions. He will be more respected by all 



40 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

classes for having opinions of Lis own, if he does 
not attempt to intrude them upon others. He 
may ''become all things to all men" so far as 
not to give offense, but not so far as to give up 
his manhood. In a word, if he would gain con- 
fidence, esteem and power, he must show himself 
to be a man, and in the discharge of all his 
duties, acquit himself like a man. 

The first thing that demands the teacher's 
attention in the school-room, is organization. 
His success depends not so much upon moral 
suasion or legal suasion, as upon judicious man- 
agement and the influence of a well regulated 
school. 

In a steam engine we expect harmonious 
action only when all parts of the machine are 
in perfect order. A watch will keep correct 
time only when all the wheels and springs are 
in their places, and every part properly lubri- 
cated. Likewise a school must be completely 
organized, systematized and fully employed, or 
disorder and confusion will be the result. When 
so regulated, its machinery is self-adjusting — 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 41 

order reigns, and the teacher is known as a good 
disciplinarian. But it is not generally under- 
stood how he gains his influence, and how he 
controls with so little effort. 

Special attention must be given to the seating 
and classification of the pupils. The object in 
view is to prevent disorder and save time. 
Each pupil should be so located in the school- 
room, that he may quietly attend to his OA^n 
duties and not disturb his fellows. All should 
be so arranged as to have the least possible 
number of classes, while each pupil is adapted 
to the standing of his class. 

Every arrangement in the school should be 
systematic. There sjiould be a time for every- 
thing, and everything in its time ; a time to open 
the school, which should never vary ; a definite 
time for every school exercise ; a time for study 
and a time for recess ; a time to whisper and a 
time to keep silent. In a word, everything that 
is desirable or that cannot be prevented, should 
be provided for and have its own time and place. 
Those irregularities that are necessary, should 



42 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

be provided for as really as the regular exercises 
of the school. Whispering and leaving of seats 
should not be allowed in study hours, nor pro- 
miscuous questions when hearing recitations. 
Hence the importance of having a definite time 
for whispering, leaving seats, and asking ques- 
tions. This- will remove temptation' and leave 
no apology for disorder at other times. 

It is important also, that the pupils have full 
employment. The old proverb that "An idle 
brain is the devil's workshop," has more truth 
in it than poetry. But, ordinarily, three promi- 
nent studies are enough to give variety and 
occupy time. In determining the length of les- 
sons, the teacher should estimate the ability of 
the class, and the difficulty of the subject. If 
the task is too easy, the scholar will have time 
to play ; if too difficult, he will become disheart- 
ened or superficial. The assigned lesson should 
therefore, tax the mind to the extent of its 
working ability — no more, no less. 

But to prevent the evil and secure the good 
contemplated, the scholar must be made to feel 



SCHOOL MAXAGEMENT. 43 

that study and recitation are the business of 
school-hours, and must become deeply interested 
in his lessons. 

Hence, " to wake up mind " becomes a prom- 
inent object of the experienced teacher. In 
this, his skill and efficiency will be tested. If 
he can divert the attention from mischief and 
sport, can rouse from indolence and fix the mind 
upon the duties and exercises of the school, he 
needs no written testimonials of his qualifications 
to manage and instruct ; it may be presumed 
that he understands his business and will be 
successful. But how 

" To 'breathe tlie enlivening spirit, and to fix 
The generous purpose in the glowing breast," 

becomes an important question to the inexpe- 
rienced. This depends both upon what the 
teacher is and what he does. The true teacher 
possesses that earnestness, fidelity and love for 
his work which render the scenes of the school- 
room pleasant and exciting. Does he manifest 
his interest in the school by promptness and 
punctuality ? lie piay expect his pupils to 



44 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

become prompt and punctual also. Is he deeply 
interested in their studies ? He will be sure to 
inspire them with the same zeal. Does his soul 
glow with an enthusiasm almost divine in view 
of the dignity, importance and responsibility of 
his work ? Then will he enkindle in their 
bosoms an abiding interest, an earnestness that 
cannot fail of success. 

It is not necessary to remove all difficulties in 
order to interest the mind. If not beyond tho 
comprehension and ability of the pupil, they 
serve only to stimulate to greater effort. The 
inborn desire for knowledge is strong, and if that 
desire be kept alive under the inspiration and 
direction of an earnest teacher, no labor nor toil 
will be irksome that is necessary to gain the 
desired object. Indeed this very toil becomes a 
source of pleasure. " Every new idea that enters 
into the presence of the sovereign mind, carries 
offerings of delight with it to make its coming 
welcome. Our Maker created us in blank igno- 
rance for the very purpose of giving us the 
boundless, endless pleasure of learning new 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 45 

things." Familiar and apt illustrations in reci- 
tation tend to awaken interest in study ; but 
illustrations should not be too famiUar, nor 
instruction too free, for the same reason that 
lessons should not be too easy. If the teacher 
would fix the attention and rouse to earnest appli- 
cation, let him simply point out the way, and 
teach the pupil how to gain the desired knowl- 
edge ; if he would cause the scholar's mind to 
glow with enthusiasm, let liim open to his ^vdew 
the twilight that emanates from the bright world 
of thought beyond, and his work is accomplished. 

Thus pupils are encouraged to investigate 
and think for themselves, and to look beyond 
their text-books and teachers for information. 

For the same object special efibrts should be 
made to render the school-room and its exercises 
attractive and pleasant. And let it not be for- 
gotten in this connection, that '" variety is the 
spice of life." Is punctuality at the opening of 
the school desirable ? Let the teacher introduce 
some exercise at that hour, adapted to interest 
the pupils. They will not be tardy if there is 



46 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

suitable inducement for them to be punctual. 
Brief and appropriate religious exercises with 
singing, seldom fail to secure the object. These 
exercises may be followed bj some interesting 
story, or illustration of some familiar scientific 
fact. For instance, the philosophy of dew, rain 
and clouds ; the effects of heat and cold upon 
the atmosphere ; or the laws of health with the 
duty and means of preserving it, may be ex- 
plained. Brief and familiar lectures on such 
subjects always interest and profit school chil- 
dren and youth. Facts gathered from history 
and from the incidents of every day fife, may 
also be employed for the same purpose. And 
when the school has become tired of study, as 
indicated by restlessness and confusion, and the 
interest in school-duties begins to flag, let the 
teacher entertain his pupils for a few moments, 
by some general exercise as above recommended ; 
and the mind thus diverted, will return with 
eagerness to its accustomed task. 

To the means already suggested for keeping 
alive the interest in school-duties, we may add 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 47 

the motives which should be urged as incentives 
to action. 

We must not mention among these that '' emu- 
lation" which the apostle associates with "wrath, 
strife and sedition," and other '' works of the 
flesh." The influence of that spirit is always 
njurious in school, as it is in the world. If 
emulation can mean a desire for improvement, 
progress and growth, which urges its possessor 
to eamest effort to excel, because excellence is 
in itself desirable, and to gain discipline and 
knowledge for their own sake ; then let it be 
employed to awaken thought and keep alive 
interest in duty. We cannot recommend the 
use of prizes in school as a motive to study : for 
we have seen that their influence is evil and only 
evil. Awarding prizes gives undue prominence 
to an unworthy object, engenders a spirit of 
rivalry and strife among the pupils, and creates 
indifference in the many, while it stimulates the 
few to action. The prize is often unjustly 
awarded and always establishes a wTong stand- 
ard of excellence. It rewards success and not 



48 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

EFFORT — talent and not worth. Hence prizes, 
as such, should be discarded by every teacher. 

But we may urge as motives to study, the 
desire to gain the approbation of the wise and 
the good ; the desire to make advancement, to 
be useful and to do right, and as has already 
been suggested, the natural love of acquisition 
and the desire to know. 

Once more, every successful manager of a 
school must learn the importance of 2^uhUc opin- 
ion as a means of securing a well regulated 
school. Public opinion has a controlling influ- 
ence in every school, for good or for evil. As 
an engine of evil it is powerful, as many an 
unfortunate teacher can testify ; as a means of 
preventing evil and securing good, it may be 
equally available. 

A skillful and very successful teacher in the 
city of Boston, once gave us an example illus- 
trating the subject before us : The " Quincy 
School," consisting of some seven hundred boys 
gathered promiscuously within the limits of a 
school district in the city, occupied one building 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 49 

under the Principal above alluded to. This new 
school building had been occupied three years, 
yet we were assured that not a mark of pencil 
or knife could be found on the benches or walls 
or play-ground fence ! In answer to the inquiry 
how this protection had been secured, the master 
said it was done " by piling on motives," which 
created a healthy state of public sentiment. This 
is but one of a thousand examples that might be 
adduced to illustrate the same point. It is, in- 
deed, of the first importance that every teacher 
aim to create and maintain a correct public opin- 
ion. It will prove a powerful auxiliary to his 
necessary work. His pupils may sometimes dis- 
regard his authority <, and trifle with his feelings, 
and may manifest indifference to his counsel or 
rebuke ; but when public opinion speaks, its voice 
is heeded ; when it frowns, the culprit trembles. 
Happy, then, is that teacher who can so enligh- 
ten and influence the public mind that it will 
sustain him in the faithful discharge of school 
duties, and guard his sanctuary with vigilance 
and care. 



IV. 

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

The hints upon the preceding pages are 
designed to aid the teacher in his efforts to 
prevent evil and secure the improvement of his 
pupils. The question now arises, if wrong has 
been committed and wholesome laws and regula- 
tions violated, what shall be done ? 

In answering this question, we would saj, 
something must be done — something that will 
show, without a doubt, that a master has charge 
of the school. 

It may here be premised that school discipline 
is based upon auiliority^ as a starting point. 
We do not propose to argue the question, but 
assert it, without fear of successful contradiction. 
Implicit obedience to rightful authority must 
always be inculcated and enforced ; it is the very 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. Dl 

germ of all good order and the only foundation 
of efficient government. In school management, 
as a means of preventing evil, we may persuade, 
invite and win ; at any time, when the doctrine 
of subordination is not questioned by the pupil, 
or after he has been subdued by authority, we 
may allure him by kind treatment and agreeable 
manners. But kindness cannot supply the place 
of authority, nor gratitude that of submission. 
Obedience is not a voluntary compliance with a 
request, but a hearty response to acknowledged 
authority — an implicit yielding to a command. 
Sympathy may render obedience pleasant and 
aid authority in securing prompt compliance, 
but it may never tak-e its place. 

And this authority must be recognized as just 
and unconditional. It is not obedience to the 
master, in view of his superiority, but to the 
station he fills, both as a duty and necessity. 
This authority vested in his office, he has no 
right to withhold ; it is not at his disposal, except 
to execute. He governs not for his own sake, 
but for the good of his school. The pupil must 



52 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

not wait for -the dictates of inclination or feeling 
before he yields, nor ask the reason for the com- 
mand. If it be the voice of rightful authority, 
it must be obeyed, promptly and without ques- 
tion. Unconditional authority vested in one 
person, as master, is not only right in principle 
but absolutely necessary, both in the legal and 
moral government of the school. 

Says an able writer on this subject, " The first 
step which the teacher must take, I do not mean 
in his course of moral education, but before he 
is prepared to enter that course, is to obtain the 
entiris, unqualified submission of his school to his 
authority. * * * * There must he autliority. 
The pupils may not often feel it, but they must 
hnoiv that it is always at hand, and must be 
taught to submit to it as to simple authority. 
The subjection of the governed to the will of 
one man, in such a way that the expression of 
his will must be the final decision of every ques- 
tion, is the only government that will answer in 
school or in family. A government not of per- 
suasion, not of reasons assigned, not of the will 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 53 

of the majority, but of the will of the one who 
presides." 

For the time being his will must be law, and 
that law must be obeyed. The injured pupils 
may appeal to the trustees, from whom the 
teacher derived his power, but they may never 
disobey, however much they dislike his require- 
ments. If, then, obedience has been refused, 
something must be done to correct the evil and 
prevent a repetition, or anarchy and chaos will 
be the result. 

To meet such an emergency every teacher 
must have reserved pozver. A hundred thousand 
muskets have been manufactured, inspected and 
packed in boxes by 'the United States govern- 
ment, and now constitute the slumbering power 
of the nation. These instruments of death, 
though perfectly made and every part adjusted, 
have never been called into use ; yet, they con- 
stitute the strength of the nation, and it is the 
existence of that power that gives security to 
our rights and permanency to our institutions. 
Suppose, now, an executive officer comes to 



64 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

demand the payment of a bond or the rendition 
of a criminal. He has no musket ; is attended 
bj no military force. Gentleness and civility 
mark all his movements. But let compliance to 
this demand of government be refused, and force 
is brought to bear upon the offender. Let resis- 
tance be sustained, and this force is multiplied, 
if need be, until a hundred thousand bayonets 
gleam in the sunshine, and the hundred thousand 
muskets speak with deadly power. 

So the teacher must not only have reserved 
force, but also the disposition and ability to 
apply it when circumstances require. The mere 
knowledge that such power exists may prevent 
the necessity to employ it, still authority and 
good order cannot be maintained where that 
power is not acknowledged and felt. 

The object of all punishment is two-fold : first, 
the good of the school, and secondly, the good 
of the offender. If the good of both the school 
and the individual cannot be secured by the 
punishment, the scholar must be sacrificed and 
not the school. 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 65 

The murderer is not usually hung for his own 
benefit, but for the benefit of society, for the 
protection of the innocent and the vindication 
of law. In most cases, however, in school 
government, the crime may be so punished as to 
save and benefit both the school and the crimi- 
nal. How shall this be done ? We answer, in 
general, in a manner adapted to the nature of 
the offense, and the disposition and character of 
the offender. The punishment may be a look 
only, or a word, or a privation, or a restraint, or 
a task, or a forfeiture, or the infliction of pain ; 
whatever it is, it must be com pulsatory and retri- 
butive, and always disagreeable. It finds nature 
in rebellion. Its object is to subdue that rebel- 
lion and restore the mind to deliberate thought- 
fulness, self-examination and sincere repentance. 
At first, vexation may lead to resistance, but 
when the punishment is faithfully administered, 
passion subsides, and a quiet calmness and a 
sincere humiliation takes possession of the soul. 
The means may be physical, but the end is 
moral. The " chastening" is always " grievous," 



56 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

but " afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness." 

But as already suggested, it is folly in the 
extreme to act by rule in the discipline of a 
school. That physician is a quack who pre- 
scribes the same remedy for every disease. 
Some patients need only encouragement ; others 
need stimulants, and still others soothing reme- 
dies, to allay inflammation or a fever ; and there 
are some diseases that nothing but calomel can 
cure. The physician, then, must study the 
constitution of his patient and the nature of the 
disease, and administer accordingly. 

So the school teacher must study the disposi- 
tion and character of his pupils and learn the 
circumstances and purpose of the crime, before 
he can prescribe a remedy that will cure. 

Allow us here to suggest, the teacher should 
distinguish between the " light of the glow-worm 
and a spark of fire about to fall into a magazine 
of powder." If a slight offense has been com- 
mitted, which threatens no evil result to the 
school, it were better to take no notice of it. 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 57 

If, on the other hand, the offense is public, and 
to pass it over would give license to a repetition, 
and put in jeopardy the teacher's authority, let 
him treat it with becoming promptness and sever- 
ity. He should check the first indications of 
insubordination. No teacher loses his authority 
at once. No school that has been kept in proper 
subjection, assumes the attitude of rebellion. 
If first indications of improper conduct receive 
proper attention, more aggravating offenses will 
not occur. Loose government makes punish- 
ments necessary. That master, therefore, who 
exercises a mild severity at all times, and keeps 
his school in perfect subjection, will seldom need 
to resort to severer measures. 

Faults that have an influence upon the school 
should be corrected publicly, that all may feel 
the influence of the discipline. If they are 
known only to the teacher, he may punish the 
the offender in private for his own good. 

But what degree of severity is to be recom- 
mended ? That degree which is necessary to 
accomplish the object in view. 



58 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

What kind of punishment shall be inflicted — 
moral suasio?i or the rodF We answer, one or 
both, as circumstances require. The quack and 
the theorist only maintain that either moral 
suasion or legal suasion alone will govern schools. 
The kind word of encouragement, the confiden- 
tial appeal, the gentle reproof, the stern prohi- 
bition and the severe blow are all appropriate 
and necessary in school discipline. 

It is a mistaken idea that corporal punishment 
is in itself an evil, to be employed only as a last 
resort. It is not " violence and outrage." Is 
it cruel to rouse an invalid from refreshing sleep 
in order to save him from the devouring flames ? 
Is it cruel to restrain a madman, who is attempt- 
ing to commit suicide ? Is the surgeon hard- 
hearted because he performs a painful operation 
to save the life of his patient ? By no means. 
Is the teacher, then, to be accused of cruelty 
who aims to prevent violence by teaching the 
necessity of subjection ? He is not cruel but 
merciful. This system has more of kindness in 
it than any other. It is not kind to leave the 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 69 

pupil to grow up under the influence of an 
unsubdued temper. It is crueltj in the parent 
or teacher not to govern and subdue the rebel- 
lious child. 

" Physical coercion is but the final appliance 
of moral suasion," and in numerous instances, 
the only means of securing moral results. 

If the disease requires calomel, sugar pellets 
will not cure. The mortifying limb must be 
amputated. It is not as the last resort, but the 
only remedy. 

Let the master, then, kindly but promptly, 
enforce wholesome regulations. Let him do this, 
if need be, by the severe use of the rod. " The 
rod and reproof give^ wisdom." " Foolishness 
is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod 
of correction shall drive it far from him." " He 
that spareth the rod, liateth his son." 

Many a child has been saved in school, that 
was lost to the family and society ; lost for the 
want of proper discipline, and saved by the legal 
and moral power of the rod. Indeed, the utility 
of corporal punishment in schools, is no longer a 



60 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

debatable question. Its use and necessity are 
sustained alike by human and divine authority, 
by common-sense and universal experience. 

But punishment should never be inflicted in 
anger. Firmness and decision are no more 
necessary in cases of discipline, than coolness 
and candor. The pupils must be convinced that 
the teacher seeks their good only, and reproves 
and punishes them as a matter of necessity, and 
not under the influence of passion. He will, 
then, retain their confidence and respect, how- 
ever great his severity. 

Punishment to be effectual must be thorough. 
A half-whipped boy is only aggravated, not con- 
quered. Hence the object of his punishment is 
not accomplished. The teacher should never 
threaten unless he designs to execute, but when 
the crisis comes, he should leave no necessity 
for a repetition. We can conceive of no proper 
punishment that may not be inflicted with all 
needed severity. 

The teacher is responsible for the mode of 
punishment, as well as for its faithful execution 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 61 

Any method that will inflict a permanent physical 
injury is unjustifiable. Holding weights in ex- 
tended hands, "sitting upon nothing," bending 
forward with the arm extended to the floor, all 
blows on or about the head with stick or ferule, 
and all violent shaking of children by the shoul- 
ders, endangering their health and life, are 
entirely improper. The teacher who resorts to 
such punishments must be wanting in common- 
sense and common intelligence. 

Another important suggestion : severity should 
always be accompanied and followed by faithful 
counsel and kind treatment. 

Never let the sun go down upon the wrath of 
a chastised pupil. See him alone, before he is 
allowed to mingle with his companions or return 
to his home. Otherwise he may excite sympa- 
thy and create a rebellion. The object to be 
gained is to win the ofiender back to duty and 
cheerful obedience, and thus save the school 
from anarchy and confusion, and the scholar, 
it may be, from a course of recklessness and 
crime. After the offense has been punished and 



62 SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

the difficulty settled, kind and confidential treat- 
ment will usually disarm the enraged pupil of 
his hostility and restore him to favor ; a few 
moments spent with him in faithful, private 
conversation, may make him a friend for life. 
Without the chastisement this moral influence 
would have been of no avail ; with it, it is 
'entirely successful. 

This mingling of the severe with the mild in 
discipline, is the more necessary in consequence 
of the heterogeneous character of our schools. 
The teacher cannot select his pupils from those 
families that have been under wholesome influ- 
ence, but must receive many who have been 
entirely ungoverned at home ; the current of 
whose evil propensities has received a steady 
direction and violent impulse, from long years 
of parental misrule and vice. These scholars 
must be controlled, and if possible, subdued. 
It is cruel to reject them from the school, and 
thus cut them ofi" from the last hope of improve- 
ment and recovery from their ruinous course of 
life. 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 63 

The master is held responsible for the results 
of his discipline ; results which must be felt in 
the school, in the neighborhood and in the world. 
Away, therefore, with all utopian theories of 
school government. Experience and skill may 
improve the means of application, but cannot 
change the system of discipline, founded in 
nature and sustained by the experience of the 
wise in every age, from the days of Solomon to 
the present time. All who would discharge 
their duty in these important relations, should 
aim and strive to become judicious managers 
and good disciplinarians. 



V. 

SCHOOL mSTRUCTIOK 

In a previous chapter we have enumerated 
some of the necessary qualifications of the good 
Teacher. "We now propose to make a few 
suggestions as to the method of imparting 
instruction. 

It is important here to distinguish between 
Instruction and Recitation. The former is the 
business of the teacher ; the latter belongs to 
the pupil only. The object of the one is to 
impart imformation ; of the other, to express 
the thoughts which the scholar has gained by 
study, observation and reflection. School in- 
struction should aim to interest and aid the mind 
in self-application ; school recitation serves to 
render acquired knowledge more definite and 
conceptions more vivid, and cultivates the power 
and habit of expression. 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 65 

But instruction must not take the place of 
recitation. There is more clanger of teaching 
too much than too little. Discipline is the end 
of teaching. The object is not to fit the pupil 
for any one special trade, art or profession, but 
to teach him to think and give him the ability 
honorably to fill any station in life. The gain- 
ing of knowledge is a secondary consideration. 
It would be better to leave this entirely out of 
the question, than to have it substituted for 
discipline. It follows, therefore, that just so 
much instruction should be given as is necessary 
to save the scholar from discouragement and 
make it possible for him, by earnest and perse- 
vering effort, to accomplish his object. 

To this end, let it be suggested, the teacher 
should never answer a question directly, that the 
pupil has power to answer ; should never solve 
an example that he can solve, or remove a diffi- 
culty that he can surmount. It is the instructor's 
business rather, to guide the way and encourage 
his pupils to make the necessary efforts. If they 
ask for more light, he should give them only the 



66 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

twilight ; if they falter, he should sustain and 
encourage them, and if they entirely fall, he 
should help them to rise again, and breathe into 
them the life-giving spirit of courage and hope. 
And, as far as possible, instruction should be 
given to classes, and not to individuals. This is 
recommended as a matter of economy. Should 
the teacher devote his time to individuals, in a 
school of thirty pupils, he could give each only 
twelve minutes ; in a school of sixty, only six 
minutes per day. Now let the school of sixty 
pupils be divided into six classes, and the same 
instruction given to them, each w^ould have one 
hour of the teacher's time every day, and would 
receive more benefit than from individual instruc- 
tion during the same time. 

In some instances individual instruction may 
be given, but never when the same may as w^ell 
be given before the class. Calls for individual 
assistance (or questions of any kind) should 
never be allowed during class recitations. A 
definite time should be set apart for private 
instruction — such a time as will not disturb the 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 67 

school or withdraw the attention of the teacher 
from other duties. 

Again, the instructor should teach subjects 
and not books; principles more than facts. The 
scholar may know all rthat is contained in the 
four hundred English Grammars, and yet be 
ignorant of the science of Language. He may 
do all the "sums" [examples] in all the Arith- 
metics extant, and not understand the simplest 
principles of Calculation. Books are useful, but 
not indispensable. Like a spacious black-board, 
they aid the teacher in his work of systematic 
instruction. That they should be used for this 
purpose only, is the thing recommended. Atten- 
tion should be directed to the princijjles of the 
science to be taught, which should be fully and 
clearly explained. 

It seems superfluous to suggest that instruction 
should be thorough. Yet such a suggestion is 
often necessary. No principle or fact should be 
passed over until it is well understood and firmly 
fixed in the mind of the pupil. First let the 
teacher explain upon the black-board, or by the 



68 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

use of such apparatus as the subject requires, the 
principles contained in the lesson. Then each 
member of the class should be required to repeat 
the explanation and give the reasons. None 
should be allowed to advance until first principles 
are thoroughly understood. This suggestion is 
the more important as so little attention is given 
in our schools to the elements of science. How 
common it is, when pupils leave the primary 
school to enter upon the duties of life or to pros- 
ecute their studies in the seminary or college, 
to find them entirely deficient in the simplest 
principles of the primary branches. They have 
no practical knowledge of Reading, Grammar or 
Arithmetic ; are unable to explain principles or 
apply facts in any business transaction, and fre- 
quently incapable of writing a respectable letter 
to a friend. As a consequence, we often find 
scholars advanced in Algebra, French and Music 
who could not explain simple subtraction, or 
sound correctly the vowels of our language. 
This is a sad commentary upon the qualifications 
and fidelity of our common school teachers, and 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 69 

no time should be lost or efforts spared to correct 
the evil. The responsibility rests mainly with 
the teacher. He should feel this responsibility 
and prepare himself for the discharge of his 
important duties. 

And it is equally important to teach correctly. 
Many do not teach facts ; others give no reasons 
for the facts asserted. Both these systems of 
instruction are defective. For example, in teach- 
ing Arithmetic we inquire of the school-boy, how 
many fundamental rules there are. "Four," is 
the reply. Some say, "Six." (It must be so 
for the books so have it.) But what is Arith- 
metic ? "The science of numbers." What do 
you mean by numbers? "Any aggregate of 
units." What can we do with numbers ? "x\dd 
them together [Addition], and take them apart 
or compare them [Subtraction]." This is all 
we can do with whole numbers. Multiplication 
and Division are short methods of adding and 
subtracting — not new rules. Addition and Sub- 
traction of Compound Numbers and Duodecimals 
are but the repetition of the simple rules, 
7 



70 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

under a different Irav of notation. Addition 
and Subtraction of Fractions are only adding 
and subtracting units which have a nominal 
divisor — the common denominator. In a word, 
by these two rules, or a modification of them, 
all the examples in Arithmetic must be solved. 
"When we leave these, we pass into Algebra, or 
other branches of the higher mathematics. 

We inquire further, what is Simple Subtrac- 
tion ? " The taking the lesser number from the 
greater." But we do not change either number 
in the process. We only compare the minuend 
with the subtrahend, and write down the differ- 
ence or remainder. 

Subtraction then, is a comparison of two num- 
bers to find the difference. But in case the 
lower figure in the lower number is greater than 
that in the upper, how do we perform the opera- 
tion ? "Borrow one [tenor a hundred as the 
case may be,] from the next left hand figure, 
which is added to the figure in the upper number 
before subtracting. Then carry one to the next 
left, lower figure." Why carry one ? ''Because 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 71 

we borrowed." But we did not borrow, only 
supposed one or ten to be added. We carry 
then, because we did not borrow — to cancel the 
one not taken away, as we supposed. 

Once more, what are Fractions ? " Broken 
numbers." What school-boy understands this ? 
Broken numbers are no more fractions, of neces- 
sity, than units. The one piece of the one-third 
of an apple is as really a unit as the apple itself. 
The earth is a unit, though it is but a small part 
of the solar system. 

In another sense every finite, whole number is 
a fraction or broken number. The world, and 
even the whole system of worlds of which we 
have any knowledge, are only parts of one 
"stupendous whole." There is then, properly 
speaking, but one unit in the universe, and that 
is the U7iiverse itself. 

Broken numbers cannot be fractions, unless 
considered as parts of a greater whole. Colburn 
says: "Parts of one are called fractions." 
This definition, properly explained, will leave the 
pupil with correct information. 



72 SCHOOL INSTRrCTION. 

The " Rule of Three " furnishes another 
example of false instruction. Many authors 
and teachers leave the impression upon the 
learner's mind that the "Rule of Three" is 
equivalent to "Proportion." But why called 
the "Rule of Three?" Doubtless because 
three terms are used in the solution of examples. 
But what is Proportion ? " The combination ef 
two equal ratios." What is ratio ? " The quo- 
tient arising from the division of one number 
by another." It requires, therefore, two terms 
for every ratio, ^Ludfour terms for every propor- 
tion. Proportion is, then, the Rule of Fou7' and 
not the "Rule of Three." 

But to teach facts is not enough. To make 
his instructions really valuable, the teacher must 
give and require the reasons ; must give the 
"why and wherefore" for every statement capa- 
ble of demonstration. 

He has under consideration, for instance, the 
Arabic or Roman figures. He should proceed, 
first of all, to inquire for their origin and history. 
The characters representing numbers were, 



BCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 73 

originally, straight marks, and probably written 
in the following manner : 

The Arabic I i| E Dd B d □ S'l^ave 
been changed by degrees into their present forms, 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The nine digits with the 
[0] cypher, constituted the characters by which 
the processes of calculation were carried on. 

The Roman characters I, V, X, L, C, D, M, 
had their origin also in straight marks. The I 
indicated a unit. The X was made by the cross- 
ing of two I's in counting ; thus I, I, I, I, I, I, 
I, I, X, ten ones. Of these ten straight marks, 
the last two [X] were made arbitrarily to stand 
for ten, and the preceding I's omitted. The V 
is simply one-half of the X (the upper half) in 
form, as five is half of ten. Three I's may 
indicate one hundred, and may be expressed by 
I , or (with the corners worn off) C. One-half 
of [^ (the lower half) gives us, in form, L, which 
stands for fifty. Four I's, written in this form, 
I I , and afterwards in this, |\/1, were made to 
represent a thousand. And one-half of Q, or 

D, represented five hundred. 
7* 



74 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

The combination of Roman characters was 
expressed by addition and subtraction. Thus, 
Y=5, IV=4 or 5—1=4 ; X=:10, IX=:9 or 
10— lr=9. And VI or 5+1=6; XV or 
10+5=15. MDCCCXXXIV or 1000+500 
+300+30+4=1834. The nine digits were 
probably so called from the fact that the fingers 
[^digiti^ were used in counting. We have ten 
characters representing numbers, and no more, 
because the originators of figures had ten thumbs 
and fingers. Hence the fundamental law of 
notation, "figures increase in ten-Md ratio." 

But why do these figures increase from the 
right toward the left ? And why do we begin 
to add or subtract at the right-hand column ? 
Simply as a matter of convenience, because we 
are "right-handed." 

Such familiar illustrations both instruct and 
interest beginners in this important science, as 
also in every other. 

In conducting class recitations, a free use of 
the black-board, both by teacher and pupils, is 
very important. All are thus instructed by a 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 75 

single explanation and the instructions are much 
longer remembered, because received through 
the se7ise of sight. 

The teacher should never consent to teach 
without this " black-wall " on one side of his 
school-room. As far as possible also, he should 
have cube-blocks, globes and maps, to aid in the 
explanation of the subjects that come before the 
classes. And with all, Webster's or Worces- 
ter's large dictionary should be upon every 
school-desk. 

When the subject will admit of it, instruction 
by topics is much to be preferred. This compels 
the pupil to think and reason for himself and 
renders his knowledge available. If questions 
are asked, they should not imply the answer, 
but should be such as require an independent 
knowledge of the lesson, to answer correctly. 
Questions should be asked before the individual 
is called- upon to answer, that the whole class 
may fix their attention. As the lesson cannot 
be recited until it is learned, the scholar or the 
class should be required to repeat the same, in 



76 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

all cases of deficiency. The habit of lecturing 
classes as a substitute for recitation should never 
be indulged. It tends to prevent suitable pre- 
paration of lessons and discourage self-reliance. 
It substitutes knowledge for discipline and thus 
defeats the main object of education. "We shall 
treat this subject more extensively in a subse- 
quent chapter. 

Frequent and thorough reviews are indispens- 
able to successful study. It is not the number 
of books passed over, nor the length of time 
spent in school, but thoroughness that makes the 
scholar. - Repetition tends to remove the dross 
of knowledge and bring out the pure gold. It 
makes sure what w^as doubtful, and firmly fixes 
the facts and principles of science in the mind 
of the learner. 

Each day there should be a review of the 
previous day's lesson ; at the end of each week, 
of all that has been studied during that week, 
and at the end of each term, of all that has 
been studied during that term. And this study 
and these reviews should contemplate a thorough 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 77 

public examination, and special efforts should be 
made to secure the attendance of all parents and 
friends in the district. 

The teacher must learn to discriminate that 
he may adapt his instructions to different classes 
of scholars. In every school is found a great 
variety of capacities, dispositions and attain- 
ments. Every such peculiarity requires peculiar 
treatment and instruction, and the teacher must 
so understand human nature and the phenomena 
of school-life, that he can adapt his teaching to 
the wants and necessities of each. 

The roots of all knowledge are and must be 
bitter. That study which will benefit, must 
require effort, as already suggested. The mind 
must be tasked to be disciplined ; it must be 
disciplined to be educated. If, then, we find 
scholars whose tasks are all easy, so easy that it 
costs little effort to learn their lessons, we should 
lay upon them greater burdens ; should rouse 
them to loftier aspirations. The mother eagle 
is said to push her eaglet out of its nest for the 
purpose of teaching it to fly. It were much 



78 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

better that it be exposed to fall, than not to learn 
to fly. So must our easy, fluent pupils be taught 
how to make application, that they may train 
and develop their untried powers, and gain 
strength for the duties of manhood. 

Another class of scholars are quick and pene- 
trating, but unpardonably self-sufficient. They 
are proud to appear well in recitations but anx- 
ious to have it understood that they have given 
little or no attention to the lessons. 

Such scholars should be proved with hard 
questions. Let the teacher expose their weak- 
ness and show them the difference between sound 
scholarship, and flippant, boisterous pretensions. 
Let him entangle them in mazes like flies in a 
cobweb, until they learn their true position and 
are willing to apply themselves as none wall do 
who feel that they have already attained to per- 
fection. Thus may flaws be ground away from 
the diamond. " Vexatio dat intelleetumy 

We have an example from a teacher of 
Physiology. A member of his class had fre- 
quently annoyed him by this self-sufficient spirit. 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION-. 79 

On one occasion he asked this pupil, " What is 
the use of the spleen?" After some delay, he 
answered, " I have once known, but really, I 
have now forgotten ! " "Here is a marvelous 
thing," replied the instructor ; " downward from 
the age of Hippocrates, all physicians have 
inquired the use of the spleen, but have been 
baffled throughout sixty generations ; yet you, a 
beardless youth, have made the wonderful discov- 
ery, and not only so, but have not even thought 
it worth retaining in your memory ! The medi- 
cal world would have made a universal jubilee 
in view of such a discovery, but you have for- 
gotten it altogether." 

Jeremy Taylor has said, '' So have I known a 
luxuriant vine to swell into irre(»;ular twio:s and 
bold excrescences, and spread itself in leaves 
and little rings, and afford but trifling clusters 
to the wine-press ; but when the vine-dresser 
had cut the wilder plant and made it bleed, it 
grew temperate in its vain expense of useless 
leaves, and knotted into fair and juicy branches 
aad made account of the loss of blood by the 



80 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

return of fruit." Thus it is in the culture of 
mind. Prune off the leaves and useless twigs 
of self-conceit, and the fruit of true scholarship 
will appear. 

Another class of pupils are fearful and self- 
distrusting. Thej meet difficulties on every 
hand, but discover in themselves no ability to 
overcome them. Such scholars need special 
encouragement. They can be assured that their 
failures may prove as beneficial to them in point 
of discipline, as would their success. It is not 
the finding of truth, but the search for it, that 
educates the mind. Hence inferior scholars, as 
they appear in the class-room, often turn out 
superior men in life. They have shown less 
brilliantly than their fellow^s in recitation, but 
have really made more efforts, and hence gained 
more practical benefit than they. They have 
received from their teacher less information but 
more encouragement and inspiration; this is 
what they most needed. 

For such pupils, the instructor should bend 
down the branches of the tree of knowledge, 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 81 

but leave them the toil of pluckmg the fruit. 
He should lead them bj degrees into the diffi- 
culties the J have to encounter. As thej enter 
the path that leads up the hill of science, thej 
will see but a small part of the hight to be 
scaled. If, when thej have surmounted one 
ridge, another appears, it seems but one more. 
If, as they ascend, 

" Hills peep o'er hills and Alps on Alps arise," 

they will gradually have gained strength and 
courage to encounter greater difficulties and 
overcome greater obstacles, till, at length, they 
can brave the glacier and the avalanche with 
the fearlessness of a Hannibal or a Kane. 

Still other scholars load their tasks with need- 
less difficulties ; like the foreigner who dined 
at a Yankee table. A boiled ear of Indian corn 
was placed before him. " Ignorant of the usual 
method of chewing the corn and eschewing the 
cob, he began at the little end and ate it, as one 
would eat a radish, cob and all.'' 

The teacher should aim to remove such need- 
less difficulties, and to show the scholar how to 



82 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

direct his efforts and apply his energies. With 
this power of discrimination and adaptation to 
the disposition and circumstances of his pupils, 
the instructor will be eminently successful ; with- 
out it, he can but fail. 

That it is the right and duty of every teacher 
to impart moral instruction, may here be taken 
for granted. 

It were enough to know that the object of the 
school is not to form scholars merely, but to form 
and develop men^ citizen'^, immortal beings. 
These citizens are to constitute the community 
and the state. And what would be the condition 
of that state which has no regard for justice, 
integrity, truth, reverence, and no fear of God 
before their eyes ? 

The answer to this question is written in char- 
acters of blood on many pages of the world's 
history. And, if we would avoid a future 
"Reio;n of Terror" in America, our Common 
Schools must be nurseries of sound Bible moral- 
ity. It must be the teacher's business, then, to 
give regular and systematic moral instruction. 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 83 

It is his to aid in laying deep the foiuidatioiis of 
of public justice ; m giving tliat profound and 
quick sense of the sacredness of right and the 
everlasting obligations of truth, without which 
law has no sanctity, private contracts no binding 
force, the pulpit no reverence, justice no author- 
ity. In a word, it is his to exert such an influ- 
ence, and inculcate such principles as will tend 
to save our youth from vice and crime, and 
preserve and fit them for the duties of private 
and public life. 

How, then, shall this moral instruction be 
given ? First of all and at all times, the les- 
sons of morality should be taught by the influ- 
ence of good example. 

Moral and Christian character is an indis- 
pensable qualification of the teacher, because, 
without such a character, he cannot exert a 
wholesome influence over his pupils. In vain 
does he preach homilies upon virtue and good- 
ness, or attempt to enforce moral lessons, while 
he himself is reckless and profane. If, however, 
he is interested in the subject, if his moral 



84 SCHOOL INSTRUCTIOX. 

sentiments are in a state of healthy activity, his 
whole deportment will declare it ; every thought 
and feeling that pervade his soul will be expressed 
in his words, tones and actions. 

And if such be his character, he will seek for 
modes to benefit his pupils by moral instruction. 
Nor will he fail to find them. 

When contriving ways to impart moral instruc- 
tion, the teacher should not forget that the 
Bible is the source of all genuine morality. 
To this he must appeal for authority, from 
whatever source his moral lessons are derived. 
It is no part of his business to teach dogmas or 
creeds, but he may impart the soul-inspiring 
principles and pure morality of the Holy Scrip- 
tures. These gems of wisdom lie scattered all 
over his field of labor, but like the drifting 
rocks from the mountain quarry, they have one 
common locality — the Bible. 

It is not recommended that the Scriptures 
should be used as a common reading-book in 
school, but for moral and religious purposes 
only. The teacher should, if possible, leave 



SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. bO 

tlie impression upon the minds of his pupils that 
the Bible is sacred, unlike all other books, and 
infinitely more valuable. Then will its instruc- 
tions be clothed with authority and power, and 
its influence be salutary and sanctifying. 

Cases are constantly occurring in the school- 
room from which moral instructions may be 
drawn. These should all be improved. Every 
violation of moral duties in the intercourse of 
pupils, should be made the occasion of imparting 
moral lessons. Falsehood, injustice and profan- 
ity are among the bad habits of scholars. The 
teacher should correct these habits in such a w^ay 
that the whole school may be benefited. He 
should expose in a mild and solemn manner, the 
folly, sinfulness and degrading tendency of such 
conduct, and at the same time, appeal to the 
conscience, wake up, if he can, the slumbering 
sense of obligation, and thus give tone to public 
sentiment in school. Make such conduct unpop- 
ular, and it will not be indulged in ; make the 
offender feel that he has wronged himself and 
his school-mates, and he will not be likely to 



86 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION". 

repeat the act. The delicate conscience of the 
child is quick to perceive the wrong, and if 
aroused, will incline him to cultivate the better 
qualities of the soul bj the practice of virtue. 

The teacher niaj employ all legitimate motives 
to accomplish his object, and he should discrimi- 
nate in the selection and application of motives, 
as circumstances require. 

The lessons of school present frequent occa- 
sions for moral instruction. Science, Philosophy 
and History abound in moral sentiments. In- 
deed, there is a moral in everything ; in every 
lesson recited, in every school-exerciso, in every 
action, thought and feeling of school-life, in 
every incident that occurs in the busy world 
around us, and it is the business of the teacher 
to gather up and apply these moral elements for 
the benefit of those committed to his care. In 
what particular manner such facts and incidents 
should be employed, must be left to the good 
sense of the instructor, who is presumed to be 
interested and anxious for the improvement and 
welfare of his pupils. 



SCHOOL IXSTRUCTIOX. 87 

But moral instruction is too important to 
depend upon casual circumstances. A specific 
time should be set apart for some appropriate 
exercise of this kind. 

In connection with the reading of the Scrip- 
tures, the teacher may explain and enforce 
their great cardinal principles. Such exercises 
must of course, be short and interesting to 
be profitable, and may be varied according to 
circumstances ; but no conscientious teacher 
will neglect or trifle with a duty so plain and 
important. 

Such instructions in no way interfere with the 
different religious opinions that may be enter- 
tained in the district, nor do they tend to secta- 
rian results. Moral and religious instruction in 
schools is merely a war upon Atheism. Its 
design and tendency is to purify and elevate 
the affections, to regulate the conscience and to 
guide and control the whole moral being ; to fit 
the citizen for the duties and responsibilities of 
a Christian community, and the immortal man 
for the blessings of a higher life. 



88 SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. 

Nor do such instructions retard intellectual 
education. Indeed, moral culture is indispens- 
able to true greatness and aids in the develop- 
ment and growth of mind, as the heat and light 
of the sun aid in the growth of vegetation. A 
plant w^ill grow without these influences, in the 
dark cellar, hut its growth is unnatural and 
distorted. It may be as large as the one whose 
roots have been nourished upon the hill-side, and 
whose leaves have felt the gentle breeze and 
glorious sunlight of heaven, — but it can have 
none of its health and vigor. So the intellec- 
tiial 7nan may be great, but it is the greatness 
of a Burr, a Byron or a Paine 1 The w^orld 
has felt the influence of too many such men. 
The true man has a sound body and a highly 
cultivated mind and heart. His passions are in 
subjection to self-love, self-love to conscience, 
and conscience to the word and will of God. 
Such should be the result of Common School 
education. 



VI. 

STUDY A^^D RECITATION. 

Discipline is not only the end of teaching, 
as was asserted in a previous chapter, but also 
of study and recitation. 

This theory of education, we are aware, is at 
war with the views of many modern teachers. 
They claim to have found a more excellent way ; 
have substituted hstening for study, lecturing for 
recitation and knowledge for discipline. They 
strive by every means in their power, to lighten 
the scholar's labors and to shorten his course of 
study. But all such theories are visionary, and 
all such efforts vain. More knowledge of books, 
or of ''men and things," however accurate and 
extensive, cannot educate the human mind, nor 
fit it to struo-o-le with the stern realities of life. 
Long and patient application, is the only condi- 
tion of desirable attainments. Education is not 
a process of gaining information merely, but the 



90 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

cultivation and development of all the powers of 
body, mind and soul. Knowledge is of great 
practical benefit to an educated mind, but must 
not be mistaken for education itself. The well 
disciplined, with the same amount of knowledge, 
has the advantage a thousand times over the 
undisciplined. 

This truth is clearly illustrated by the follow- 
ing comparison by a learned author : " Let 
two young persons, equal in all respects, be 
selected and separately educated ; let the period 
be for the same term of years, but not less than 
five nor more than ten ; let one be trained in the 
modern system of knowledge, and the other in 
any system of the severe old school, rod-enforced, 
self-exerting, spirit-trying, patience-provoking, 
labor-causing, toil-producing, but specially in 
the system directly to be recommended ; then 
launch both the pupils, at the same time and in 
the same circumstances of poverty and destitu- 
tion, into the troubled waters of life. The 
latter shall be seen, swimming, or wading, or 
walking, as the tide demands or admits ; the 



STUDY AXD RECITATION. 91 

former, floating, or driven at the mercy of the 
winds, mired or sinking ! Or let both pursue a 
professional or literary life. The truly disci- 
plined, with even less knowledge, shall very 
soon excel the other in any assigned task ; shall 
if necessary, excel him in acquiring knowledge, 
and this with so much ease, that ten years after 
academical training shall have ended, the world 
will ascribe the difference not to the opposite 
elementary training, but to differences in native 
intellectual powers." 

Study and recitation are the principal means 
by which the desirable results of education are 
secured ; these constitute the business of the 
school-room. Study is the exercise of acquir- 
ing ; recitation, that of expression. 

Which is the most important for discipline, we 
will not here undertake to decide. And whether 
study is more necessary as a preparation for a 
good recitation, than a well conducted recitation 
is for successful study, may be doubtful. 

The distinctive duties of teacher and pupil, 
must be well understood and constantly kept in 



92 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

view. Both study and recitation belong to the 
pupil exclusively. The teacher should conduct 
the recitation, but he should never recite the 
lesson ; he may stimulate the mind and direct 
the studies of his class, but he cannot study for 
them. 

Recitations differ in kind with the nature of 
the ideas to be recited. They may be forms or 
sounds and their arrangement, as alphabets, 
spelling-lessons and paradigms ; they may be the 
meaning and relation of words, as in the trans- 
lation and analysis of sentences ; or they may 
be figures and signs for the expression of mathe- 
matical and other abstract truths. 

The form of recitation differs with the age, 
ability and classification of the pupils. Different 
teachers may not conduct the same recitations 
exactly alike, and the same teacher will vary 
his form for the sake of variety and to avoid 
monotony. But however extensive this variety 
and numerous the modifying circumstances, there 
is ordinarily but a single object to be gained, 
viz.: the expression of pupil's thoughts, or the 



<* STUDY AXD RECITATIOX. 03 

thoughts which he has made his own bj study, 
embodied in Ids oum language. 

Some captions, mathematical definitions and 
fixed rules can be better expressed in the words 
of the author, but in all other cases and in the 
various kinds of recitation, the language of the 
pupil is much to be preferred. That teacher 
who would make scholars worthy of the name, 
must labor to employ the mind as a depository 
of thoughts and not of mere words and sio-ns. 

Recitation has its origin in nature, and is 
always practiced in childhood. As soon as the 
child begins to think, he begins to express his 
thoughts to others ; that expression is recitation. 
His desire to know and to make known, grow^ up 
in the mind together, and if properly cultivated 
in the family and school, will result in sound 
scholarship and thorough discipline. Whatever 
the child learns he is sure to communicate. He 
does not wait to be questioned nor attempt to 
use borrowed language, yet he never fails to 
express his thoughts so as to be fully understood. 
All the ideas that enter into his mind are 



94 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

immediately formed into words, looks and acti(jns. 
And if parents refuse to listen, the child tells 
his story to a favorite doll or a pet dog, with all 
the enthusiasm of an actress on the stage, or an 
orator in the Senate. 

At this early period lessons are learned from 
observation, and recited without reference to 
grammatical and rhetorical rules. But they are 
none the less beneficial. 

The child learns to think by the exercise of 
his perceptive faculties ; he dwells upon images 
of his own creation, invents his little stories, 
and thus cultivates the imagination ; he com- 
pares facts and forms conclusions, and in this 
way calls into exercise his reasoning powers. 
And all these thoughts, from whatever source 
derived and however formed, are recited again 
and again, and thus he learns to talk. We are 
astonished sometimes to observe how rapidly chil- 
dren learn the use of language, but find the rea- 
son in the fact that they are incessantly talking. 

And why should this natural process of learn- 
ing and reciting in the nursery, be entirely 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 95 

discarded in the school-room ? The pupil in 
the school and the student in the college, is 
only the cliild matured by age. lie has substi- 
tuted books for playthings, study for observation, 
and class-recitation for the spontaneous rehearsal 
of his childish thoughts. But why now pervert 
the means of education so nobly begun ? why 
change the recitation into a lecture or an exam- 
ination, and thus defeat the very object to be 
gained ? Would the parent undertake to teach 
his child to walk or talk by lecturing or ques- 
tioning on the subject ? Would he not, rather, 
require him to exercise his own powders and fac- 
ulties, as the only means of learning these 
important arts ? Thp answer is obvious and the 
comparison instructive. The scholar must learn 
by study, and recite independently of his instruc- 
tor, if he would be benefited by the exercise. 
Let the teacher then, observe the habits of early 
childhood and he will not mistake the true theory 
of class-recitation. 

Study and recitation are for the mind what 
food and exercise are for the body. The physical 



96 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

energies cannot be developed Avitliout exercise ; 
yet, exercise without food, would not give 
bodily strength and vigor. By study the mind 
is fed with knowledge, and by recitation its fac- 
ulties are called into vigorous action. Natural 
love for play inspires the child to spend all his 
waking hours in phj^sical activity. He knows 
no rest ; is always running, jumping, skating, 
sliding, or like " Our Charley," is " tooting, 
pounding, hammering, singing, meddling and 
asking questions." Here indeed, we have the 
only example of perpetual motion yet discovered. 
But there is no other condition of physical health 
and groAvth. 

So also, the love of knowledge gives the child 
a fondness for observation, reflection and study, 
and a natural desire to communicate leads him 
to rehearse to others his every thought. And 
happy is that scholar whose glowing, youthful 
enthusiasm has not been checked by the indif- 
ference or stupidity of his teachers. 

It is by these two processes, study and reci- 
tation, that the mind grows from infancy to 



STUDY AND EECITATION. 97 

manhood. By these alone the prattling boy 
that once played around the farm-house, "amid 
the snow drifts of New Hampshire," became a 
man who afterwards thundered in the Senate, 
and gained the audience of an admiring world. 

Study and recitation are exercises not only 
for the nursery and school-room, but also for the 
drawing-room, the lyceum and the work-shop. 
And if under the direction of intelligent teachers 
in early life, every opportunity will be improved 
for ripening scholarship and perfecting character, 
until the great work of education is finished. 
The object of recitation is not merely to enable 
the instructor to examine and correct the mem- 
bers of his class ; ' it is in itself an important 
exercise and indispensable as a means of dis- 
cipline. 

Erroneous views as to the object to be gained, 
have led to wrong methods of conducting recita- 
tion. The Socratic method is too often adopted 
in our schools, and the whole hour spent in asking 
" leading questions." This is not tolerated even 
in the examination of witnesses in the court- 
9 



98 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

room ; much less should it be allowed in the 
school. If a knowledge of the lesson was all 
that is desirable, and to learn whether the [iujiils 
have studied faithfallj, the only object of the 
recitation, questioning would be the most expe- 
ditious method of reaching the result But this 
is not the case, as will appear in the course of 
our suggestions. 

Moreover, scholars may answer questions with 
only a jjartial knowledge of the lesson ; yet, 
they can have no distinct ideas u} on the subject; 
they feel no interest and hence receive no profit. 
Such pujiils are in the condition of a stagnant 
well of water, uaiting to be jjmnped^ or like a 
dead body before a coroner's jury, about to 
undergo q> post mortem examination. 

It is allowable to ask questions in connection 
with recitation for the purposes specified, and 
sometimes for the sake of variety, but still it 
must be remembered that the teacher's ques- 
tioning is not the scholar's reciting. Whenever 
the habit is indulged it is attended with injurious 
consequences. Yet in how many of our schools 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 99 

is a better system adopted ? The oral method 
of iuptruction is equally objectionable. The 
familiar illustration and formal lecture have 
their own time and place in the process of edu- 
cation, but they must not consume the time set 
apart for study or recitation. These occupy 
the foreground in every good school, and must 
have the first attention. That teacher who 
spends the hour in explaining and repeating 
what the class can learn and recite, has mista- 
ken his duty ; if he aims to amuse them by 
interesting lectures, he does them positive harm. 
He may gain a reputation for his learning and 
"aptness to teach," but alas I his pupils receive 
neither credit nor. advantage. Explanations 
should be made only to remove positive difficul- 
ties and should always be regarded as aids to 
study. Lectures are designed more particu- 
larly to communicate information, and are ap- 
propriate only when knowledge is the object in 
view. 

But recitation has important uses of its own, 
and one of these is to induce study. 



100 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

How many lessons would be learned in any 
school if no recitations were required ? How 
much knowledge or discipline would be gained 
by hard study, if the pupils understood before- 
hand that the hour for recitation w^ould be 
occupied by the teacher in lecturing or asking 
questions ? 

No person of experience in school-life can fail 
to answer these questions correctly ; all must 
acknowledge that in the case supposed one of 
the strongest motives to study is removed. But 
let these pupils know that the lesson must not 
only be learned, but recited and explained to 
others^ and a deep interest and an earnest appli- 
cation will be the result. And this influence is 
felt not merely upon the indolent, but upon every 
class of scholars and under all circumstances. 

The second advantasie of recitation here to be 
noticed, is its power to give distinctness and 
vividness to acquired knowledge. The pupil's 
thoughts are not clear and firmly fixed in his 
mind until they are in a form to be recited. 
For this reason the young teacher always makes 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 101 

more improvement in the branches studied than 
his schokirs. He is often surprised to observe 
how much better he understands the subject for 
teaching it ; how much more vivid his concep- 
tions and how much longer remembered. The 
lessons must, therefore, be recited or not under- 
stood, and that teacher who adopts a wrong 
method of conducting recitation, withholds one 
of the surest remedies for superficial scholarship. 
Indeed, should all possibility of giving expres- 
sion to thoughts be removed, the strongest motive 
for thinking would be taken away. Our ideas 
would become dull and confused, and it is 
doubtful whether we should long have any ideas 
at all. 

The utility and importance of recitation as an 
incentive to study and as a means of rendering 
conceptions distinct and permanent, is further 
illustrated in the habits of social life. There is 
no motive so strong to induce careful reading 
among the educated, as the hope of enjoying 
companionship with the cultivated and refined, 
or the expectation of joining a literary circle in 



102 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

the drawing-room where free conversation is 
indulged upon educational subjects. No scholar 
would study with so much earnestness and profit 
the English classics, Addison, Johnson, Milton 
and Shakspeare, or make himself so familiar 
with Dickens, as he who had been called upon 
to write an essay upon English taste, character 
or manners. 

No Statesman understands American politics 
and policy so well as he who has become the 
leader and orator of his party. And among the 
less cultivated but really intelligent yeomanry, 
nothing so stimulates to mental exertion as the 
informal gatherings in village and neighborhood, 
where^he young and the old indulge in a free 
rehearsal of all they have ever seen, or heard, 
or felt. And what should we know of the men- 
tal capacity of loafers in the bar-room or work- 
shop, but for their free discussions upon the 
politics, religion and good morals of the commu- 
nity. And how could the village gossip keep 
alive his brilliant thoughts, and render more 
vigorous his active mind, except by the daily 



STUDY AXD RECITATION. 103 

recitation of the mistakes and foibles of his 
erring neighbors ? And even the man 



Who never had a dozen thouichts 



In all his life, * * * 

told them o'er, each in its 'customed place, 

From morn till night, from youth to hoary age." 

But the relation of recitation to study is not 
its most important use, and for the reason that 
knowledge is not the end of education. 

According to the popular theory, education is 
filling ip the mind as one would fill up a cistern 
with water, or the stomach with food. If we 
wish to improve the condition of a horse, it is 
admitted that we should resort to the filling up 
process. The animal would be kept in a passive 
position and his stomach filled with nutrative 
fodder. And in the process of time, he would 
exhibit all the animation and beauty of Alexan- 
der's Bucephalus, as the result of careful train- 
ing. But the human mind is not a horse. 

Many a fond parent predicts that his son will 
become a great man because he is a great 
reader. He might expect him to fatten if he is 
a great eater, but knowledge does not improve 



104 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

the mind in the same manner as food does the 
body. Still, many teachers insist that " educa- 
tion is storing the mind with useful knowledge." 
And why not add, to complete the figure, that 
physical education is storing the body with use- 
ful food ? 

The ancients were trained for the athletic 
games, by vigorous and systematic exercise. 
This alone can give to the arm strength and 
dexterity ; to the vocal organs the power of 
expression in the production of harmonious 
sounds, and to the whole physical system that 
vigor, energy and skill necessary to accomplish 
the object of its creation. So the exercise of 
tliinking and reciting gives the vigor and strength 
of intellectual manhood ; gives the power to 
acquire and use knowledge, and every other 
advantage of a practical education. 

Recitation has, therefore, for its principal 
object the improvement of the faculties which it 
calls into exercise ; it creates the ability to give 
expression to ideas in conversation, writing, 
oratory and work. And that recitation which 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 105 

is best adapted to give readiness, skill and power 
in the ex[)ression of thoughts, is equally fitted 
to promote earnest and accurate thinking. 

But some ideas cannot be expressed in words 
— they require execution. Hence the impor- 
tance of working examples, drawing diagrams 
and maps, performing experiments in the sciences 
and of practice in the arts. Still, language 
furnishes the chief means of expression, and, 
therefore, the cultivation of the "faculty of dis- 
course" should be the main object of recitation. 

But, as has been suggested, modern improve- 
ment has invented a labor-saving process in the 
cultivation of mind. The time seems too long 
and the labor toa hard to our visionaries, for 
acquiring an education. They have marked 
the improvements of the age : the rearing of 
factories to manufacture our fabrics ; the con- 
struction of engines to traverse the land and 
navigate the water ; the making of machines to 
stitch our garments, to cut and thrash our grain, 
to write our letters and transmit our thoughts in 
the twinkling of an eye to the ends of the earth ; 



106 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

and hence thej infer that there may be machines 
for cultivating mind and manufacturing thought. 
But all such views betray an alarming ignorance 
as to the nature and object of education. 

The growing of trees in the forest requires as 
much time now as in the days of Plato. It still 
requires an hundred years, even in the fertile 
soil of young America, for the growth of a single 
oak to maturity. And the gro^Yth of mind must 
also be gradual ; it must result from the same 
labor and toil that it cost the hardy old Greek 
who wrote the Iliad, centuries ago. " The path 
which leads to the mount of science does not lie 
among flowers ; and he who travels it, must 
climb the cold hill-side ; he must have his feet 
cut by the pointed rocks, he must faint in the 
dark valley, he must not seldom have his rest at 
midnight on the desert sand. It is no small 
thing for which the true scholar strives." The 
oak, that king of the forest which has braved 
the storms of a century, as we have intimated, 
grows as slowly now as when the earth was 
young. But the mushroom, now as then, grows 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 107 

up in a single niglit. And may we not conclude, 
judging from our diluted literature and simplified 
text-books, from perverted public opinion and 
prevailing false theories, that this vegetable pro- 
duction, the mushroom, has been transplanted 
into our educational garden. 

But would it not be better to make fewer 
books and more men ? And if we would make 
men, we must lead our pupils to self-application 
and self-sacrifice. They must not be idle, pas- 
sive listeners to oral instruction ; they must 
recite^ and not be examined. 

" Labor is life ! 'T is the still water faileth ; 
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth ; 
Keep the icatch ivound, for the dark rust assaileth ; 
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon." 

The teacher cannot help the pupil recite, any 
more than he can help him study; he cannot 
study for him, any more than he can digest his 
dinner. The prevaiFrng impression that teachers 
and text-books can do for the scholar the most 
of his studying and reciting, is both false and 
ruinous. In the simplified, popular text-books 
of our day, we find not only many useless expla- 



108 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

nations to save labor in learning the lesson, but 
numerous questions to aid the pupil in reciting, 
and thus a strong temptation is held out to induce 
idleness or plaj rather than to encourage study. 
It must be, after all that has been said to the 
contrary, that " education is a royal road," and 
modern scholars prefer to ride rather than to 
walk. And even then, their course must be 
easy and rapid. We assure them that they are 
carried in the wrong direction, but their con- 
veyance is very comfortable and seems to be 
taking them someivhere very fast ! It is a seri- 
ous fact that many of our teachers attach no 
importance to recitations as a means of discipline, 
but regard them merely as way marks to some 
imaginary goal. As a result, the pupils fail to 
appreciate the importance of recitation or study ; 
they regard them as mere mechanical processes 
which seem necessary " to get through the book," 
" to complete the course," " to finish their educa- 
tion" and "to get a diploma." 

The standard of scholarship and amount of 
study in the class, are ordinarily measured by 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 109 

the thoroughness of the recitation and the actual 
requirements of the teacher. Pupils will do no 
more than necessary to perform the assigned 
task. If they know that the hour for recitation 
is to be occupied by a familiar lecture, they will 
be prepared to Jiear simply. If they expect to 
be examined by the use of questions, they will 
come to the recitation-room prepared for the 
pumping i^ro cess. But let them know that they 
must recite their own lessons, and they will 
come prepared to do so, and will have the 
benefit of faithful study and accurate recitation. 
Not one scholar in twenty, when he leaves 
the common school, knows how to study, and 
they are fortunate Who acquire that habit in the 
early stages of their academic training. The 
fault is usually with the instructor and results 
not unfrequently, from a want of severity in 
requiring and conducting recitation. A stream 
does not rise higher than its fountain. If the 
teacher is superficial, the scholar will be so ; if 
he is accurate and severe, the whole tendency 
of his influence will be to create a love for study, 

10* 



110 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

an interest and enthusiasm in the exercises of 
the school, and as a result, habits of close appli- 
cation. This is the first great object to be 
secured. When the scholar has gained the 
power to apply his mind closely and for a long 
time, to a single subject, he is half educated ; 
without this power, little or nothing can be 
accomplished. Let the instructor aim, there- 
fore, to teach his pupils lioiv to study. 

But how shall we apply these suggestions to 
practical school-keeping, and what may we ex- 
pect as results of the system of instruction here 
recommended ? 

In making the application, we will first bring 
before their teacher, a class of mere children. 
They have come fresh from the studies and reci- 
tations of home-life. Timid and fearful, they 
are now to come under the restraints and dis- 
cipline of school. The change is great and 
important, and the danger is that here their 
childish enthusiasm will be chilled, and their 
love of knowledge and habit of recitation dor 
stroyed. To overcome this timidity and make 



STUDY AND RECITATION. Ill 

them feel at home in their new position, the 
teacher should entertain them by pleasant and 
familiar conversation ; to keep alive their interest 
in surrounding objects and passing events, and 
to cultivate still more their conversational powers, 
he should require them, at every recitation, to 
rehearse their little stories or to communicate 
interesting facts that have come under their own 
observation. Each should be provided with 
slate and pencil, so that his leisure hours may 
be occupied in drawing forms and figures under 
the direction of his instructor. 

Children are not in school simply to learn 
their A B C's. [They are more often sent 
there, because they are troublesome at home ! ] 
But to learn to read is one object of the pri- 
mary school, and it is very important that 
correct instruction be given to this class of 
children. 

The "nature and power of letters" composing 
the alphabet, must first be understood ; not by 
learning their names in the order in which they 
are arranged, but by selecting the more familiar 



112 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

forms, such as can be made to mean something, 
and at once to interest the learner. 

For instance, let the teacher draw upon the 
black-hoard the letter 0, with a view to instruct 
his class as to the meaning and use of it. This 
letter is of the same form as the boy's hoop, or 
the girl's ring, and resembles also the shape of 
the mouth when it sounds 0. Children some- 
times speak it, when something hurts or pleases 
them, to express their feelings, but when not 
used alone, it represents a sound merely. Here 
let the class individually draw the letter upon 
the board or slate, and give and repeat its vari- 
ous sounds until its form and uses are completely 
understood. Next, let the letter I be drawn in 
the same way, and its form, use, nature and 
power be explained as before. I sounds like 
eye, but does not look like it, nor mean the same. 
I is used by the child speaking, to represent 
himself ; eye is the organ to see with. I (or ^, 
as sometimes written) when not used by itself, 
represents a sound. The children should now 
be required to write the character and give its 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 113 

sounds until perfectly familiar -svith it. As a 
third example, S may 1)e drawn. is round, I 
is straight and S is crooked. Its peculiar form 
and sound should be made familiar to the chil- 
dren. In this way positive attainments are 
made, and the class are prepared for another 
step in their course, viz., the combination of 
letters into syllables. 

S placed before I, gives SI ; before 0, gives 
SO ; placed after, we have IS and OS. Here 
let all the sounds of these vowels be expressed 
and many times repeated by the class. This 
will not only give familiarity with the sounds 
and forms as items of useful knowledge, but also 
cultivate the vocal' organs. It is recitation. 

The next step in this process is to form sylla- 
bles into words vrhich express ideas. In doing 
this, the instructor should aim to select those 
words with which the children are most familiar, 
and the objects in which they are most interested. 
And with every recitation they should be required 
to give, in their own language, a description of 
these objects, their forms and uses. If the 



114 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

names of animals constitute the lesson, let them 
describe their character, habits, etc. And to 
carry out this system of instruction and its 
application, we will suppose our class have 
made sufficient progress to read readily and 
understandingly. Now, at every lesson, the 
elementary principles should be reviewed and 
applied, and the habit of reciting continued. 
After a portion of the lesson has been read dis- 
tinctly and correctly, the books should be closed 
and the members of the class called upon to 
recite what they have learned by reading. 
Whether it is a description or a story, the 
abstract should be expressed in their own lan- 
guage. In this way the mind will become the 
depository of thoughts, and the scholar will 
acquire the abiUty to use appropriate language 
in expressing them ; school-life may thus be 
made pastime for children, and the school-room 
as attractive as their play-ground. 

A recitation for mature pupils may here be 
illustrated by an example. A class of from ten 
to twenty, of equal capacity and standing, are 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 115 

seated in the recitation-room. Each is called 
upon to recite, but not in the order in which 
they are seated. He rises and takes his position 
so as to address both teacher and class-mates, 
and in a clear and distinct voice, communicates 
in his own language, the ideas which he has 
acquired in the study of his lesson. The class 
give attention and are called upon to correct 
and improve the recitation of each. After this, 
the teacher asks questions, corrects mistakes and 
communicates additional information which all 
are expected to remember, as a part of the 
review for the following day. At the close of 
the hour, an appropriate merit mark is recorded, 
indicating each ind-ividual's standing -as shown 
by that recitation. 

The practical results of the system here rec- 
ommended are evident. They are manifest at 
every step in the course of education and in 
every sphere of life. 

The scholar under this kind of training, learns 
to become prompt and earnest in the discharge 
of his duties ; his hard study and accurate 



116 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

recitation, give strength and vigor of mind and a 
consciousness of manly independence ; his habit 
of criticism serves to form judgment, cultivate 
taste and give the power of fixed attention. 
And these are valuable attainments, equally 
important in every profession and employment. 
Another result of this system is the cultivation 
of the conversational powers. The constant 
habit .of giving expression to thoughts, practiced 
from early childhood, gives a free and correct 
use of language, the power to clothe the con- 
ceptions in appropriate words and to utter them 
with fluency and elegance. This is a valuable 
accomplishment, but is rarely attained for the 
want of proper culture. 

This system is equally adapted to form the 
ready writer. Every recitation is either an 
abstract or a composition, and the daily practice 
of rehearsing his own or the thoughts of others, 
is the most successful way for the scholar to 
acquire fluency in the use of his tongue or his 
pen. Let the lesson, the description and the 
story which constitute the recitation, be fre- 



STUDY AND RECITATION. 117 

quently ivrUten ; let this practice be continued 
through every stage of education, and the exer- 
cise of writing compositions will no longer be 
regarded as a task, and all our pupils will 
acquire this noble art, so important in practical 
life. And what so well calculated to make 
accurate observers and intelligent hearers and 
readers, as this practical training by study and 
recitation. Their minds become well disciplined 
and logical, and are under the control of an 
" iron will," and this will is directed by an 
earnest spirit. Such men are prepared not 
only to acquire knowledge, but to digest it and 
make it a part of their own mental being. They 
can analyze, classify and discriminate, and hence 
are prepared to reason, believe and act for 
themselves. 

Once more, it is only by study and recitation 
that the public speaker can be trained to do 
honor to the pulpit or the forum. A man is not 
an orator because he is a sound scholar, nor 
because he has the power of declamation. The 
two must be combined in the same individual — 
11 



118 STUDY AND RECITATION. 

deep thouglit and elegant and earnest expression. 
The one is the result of faithful study, and the 
other of constant training from early boyhood, 
in the practice of recitation. Clay and Webster 
failed in their first attempts at public speaking, 
and even Demosthenes whom Cicero pronounced 
"the most perfect of all orators," was ridiculed 
when he first appeared before an Athenian 
audience. He had weak lungs, a shrill voice 
and defective enunciation. To overcome these 
obstacles he recited "with pebbles in his mouth" 
and upon the sea-shore, amid the noise of the 
roaring waves ; he shut himself up " in a sub- 
terranean room" for months together, for the 
purpose of reciting " before a mirror," that he 
might acquire freedom of speech and dignity of 
manner, and "he transcribed the history of 
Thucydides eight times for the purpose of form- 
ing his style." By study and recitation these 
great men became the greatest orators of ancient 
and modern times. By the same process, others 
may also acquire power and distinction. 



VII. 

coNCLUDme remarks to teachers. 

Thus, fellow teachers, we have aimed to 
redeem our promise and present to you very 
briefly, some practical "Hints" upon school- 
keeping. We trust you will appreciate our 
motives, with however little favor you may 
regard our efforts. All that is valuable for 
you as teachers, must be learned either from 
those " who have borne the heat and burden of 
the day," or from your own experience in the 
"wear and tear" of teaching. Mere theory 
and philosophy have no place in the manage- 
ment and instruction of schools. The teacher 
deals only with facts. He is eminently a prac- 
tical man, and must take a practical, common- 
Bense view of everything. Besides- — 



120 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

"Teacher! to thyself, 
Thou hast assumed resiJonsibiUties 
Of crushing weight. A mighty, peerless work. 
Is thine. The golden chords attun'd by thee. 
Or grown by thy neglect, discox'dant; not 
In time alone, but thro' the limitless 
Expanse of all eternity, shall throb ; 
And should one note, which thou, by greater care. 
More zealous labors, or by added skill, 
Might now attune in harmony, be found 
At last, in dissonance with virtue, truth, 
Or mental symmetry, in Heaven's sight, 
Methinks a fearful guilt will on thee rest. 
Thou hast to do with God's most noble work ! 
The image fair, and likeness of Himself ! 
Immortal mind. That emanation bright 
From His Divinity ! Sole transfer made 
To man, from His own deathless nature! Such, 
Instructor, is thy trust ! Thus sacred, high, 
And precious, e'en beyond all finite pow'r 
To estimate, thy holy charge ! No work 
Of art, or finest mechanism in things 
Material, hath e'er so challenged, for 
Its right discharge, e'en the vast aggregate 
Of human skill." 

Look well, then, to your qualifications for the 
great work which you have undertaken. Have 
you as much common-sense, devotion to your 
work, cheerfulness and hope, natural sympathy 
with the young, aptness to teach, energy of 
character, mental power and cultivation, self- 



CONCLUPING REMARKS. 121 

respect, self-control and moral integrity as is 
necessary, to fit you for your important duties ? 
We need the noblest order of minds for this 
■work. We need persons of ripe, extensive, 
thorough scholarship, persons of refined, elegant 
tastes, and high and commanding intellects ; but 
they must be individuals of perfected power, 
-who can communicate themselves , as well as 
their learning — individuals of profound impul- 
ses and burning sympathies, who have souls to 
move the world. There is an acknowledged 
want of this kind of personal power, in many of 
our teachers. They may exhibit no prominent 
defects either in character or attainments ; may, 
indeed, be living editions of text-books, capable 
of patient elaborations and learned comments on 
the subjects before them, but they are destitute 
of all vital, transmissive, inspiring influence ; no 
virtue goes out of them, as they mingle with 
their scholars ; they never stir the deep foun- 
tains of their souls nor awaken in their bosoms 
those lofty sentiments that incite to greater 
efforts and nobler deeds. The teacher who 



122 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

cannot rouse his pupils to think and act for them- 
selves, who is satisfied to drag the almost lifeless 
body of an uninterested class through formal 
recitations, does not deserve the name he bears. 
No matter how great his abilities, or how exten- 
sive his learning, his main work is left undone. 
The high office of the teacher reaches far beyond 
the mere formalities of the school-room. " Where 
acquisition ends, the highest education begins ;" 
hence, the paramount aim of the teacher should 
be to cultivate the faculties and cherish the 
spirit of a nobler life. If he possesses such a 
power, an unconscious tuition will be felt upon 
all around him ; his spirit will have all the glow 
that imagination kindles, and will be filled with 
impulses more stirring than chivalry ever excited. 
Such a spirit will consecrate him to his work, 
and bear him through his labors as a glorious 
pastime. 

Now, fellow teacher, the question is, have 
you these qualifications and this spirit ? If you 
are conscious that you do not possess these 
qualities (in some degree at least), and have 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 123 

not the power and determination to acquire 
them, you may safely conclude that you have 
mistaken your calling, and should at once relin- 
quish it, to engage in some employment less 
responsible and more congenial to your habits 
and tastes : 

" For Avoe to him who brings, 
Or ignorance or recklessness, to such 
Pursuit! Let him the rather dig, or beg 
From door to door, his daily food, and live 
At peace with God, and in His sight absolved, 
Than tamper with expanding mind; for if 
Unsightly mould, he doth perchance impart. 
No pow'r resides on earth, to e'er repair 
The seemless havoc he hath wrought. His work 
Howe'er achieved, whate'er its consequent, 
How done, is done for aye." 

If, however, you are conscious that you pos- 
sess the requisite qualifications to enter upon 
such duties, let your aim be high. Determine 
to elevate and honor your profession. Let no 
opportunity for self-culture pass unimproved. 
No teacher has already attained to perfection ; 
every one should strive still more to cultivate 
his mind and heart, and to gain general and 
professional knowledge. This should be the 



124 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

work of every day of his life. Would you 
engage earnestly in this work of self-discipline, 
learn to make the most of time. 

Great wealth is not usually acquired by "huge 
windfalls," but by minute and careful accumula- 
tions. The little sums which many would deem 
of no importance, the pennies and half-dollars, 
are the items which the miser has, year by year, 
collected and preserved, until he has reared his 
pyramid of fortune. From the miser's success, 
you may learn the nobler "avarice of time," 

The German critic, who learned to repeat the 
Iliad in Greek, had no months, weeks nor days 
to spare from professional labor. He employed 
the minutes spent in passing from one patient's 
door to another, in his daily round of duty. 
Dr. Mason Good's translation of Lucretius was 
composed in the streets of London, under similar 
circumstances. Dr. Burney, the great musician, 
acquired the French and Italian languages while 
riding on horse-back, from place to place, to give 
his professional instructions. Elihu Burritt and 
Hugh Miller are also illustrious examples of 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 125 

what may be accomplished by a proper use of 
time, amid the cares and labors of active life. 
You also should profit by such economy, and 
learn how to use fragments of time. You should 
"glean up its golden dust ; those raspings and 
parings of precious duration, those leavings of 
days and remnants of hours which so many 
sweep out into the waste of existence," and 
employ them all in study and efforts to make 
yourselves better teachers. 

To the same end, you should learn to be 
punctual. This is important, not only in your 
efforts for self-improvement, but also for your 
success in the management of your school. As 
a habit in life, punctuality is invaluable. Some 
always post their letters a few moments after the 
mail has closed ; reach the wharf just in time to 
see the steamboat off, or the railroad depot just 
in season to hear the whistle of the engine, 
already thundering by. By such tardiness much 
time is lost and much inconvenience realized. 
So in school-life. 

"A LITTLE TOO LATE," will produce evils that 



126 CONCLUDING KEMARKS. 

industry and perseverance cannot remove ; will 
waste precious moments that no pains nor toil 
can recover. Be punctual, then, in every school- 
duty, and also in those personal duties that per- 
tain to your own improvement. 

Method and promptitude are also essential to 
your improvement and success. They will pre- 
vent confusion and irregularity. If you have 
no system, or delay until to-morrow what ought 
to be done to-day, a part of your necessary or 
desirable work Avill remain undone through the 
week, through the year, and through life. "A 
time and place for everything," should be written 
over your door, engraven on your memory, and 
wrought into your fixed habits. Then, school- 
duty will be pleasant, and will be so performed 
that much time will be saved for self-culture. 

Again, we would urge upon you the impor- 
tance of singleness of purpose, both as a means 
of success and a duty. We do not mean that 
you should be a " man of one idea," and know 
nothing beyond the limited sphere of your own 
profession ; but that teaching should be the one 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 127 

great object before your mind, and that you 
should devote to it your best hours and your 
best thoughts, directly. Kindred subjects de- 
mand a certain degree of your attention, but 
only so far as they subserve to the same pur- 
pose. " Let your profession be contemplated 
under the similitude of a river, broad and deep, 
but as constituted of many lesser streams, by 
whose influence it has been formed, and is still 
fed." The River should engross your first 
attention, and all the smaller streams be so 
directed as to swell the main channel. 

Professional enthusiasm is of two kinds ; the 
one confines itself to the technicalities of the 
profession, rejecting every other species of dis- 
cipline and knowledge as irrelevant or useless ; 
the other seeks the fountains from which the 
tributaries flow, and aims to turn everything 
into the deep channel and to guide even the 
remotest streams of knowledge into the swelling 
current. If you fully appreciate the greatness 
of the work you have undertaken, you cannot 
be diverted from your noble purpose, however 



128 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

wide your range of study and observation. 
Happy indeed, if pure science and hard study 
have trained your mind to close and vigorous 
thought — happy if the material world has en- 
larged your soul by her lofty contemplations — 
happy if the classics have strengthened your 
reasoning powers and cultivated your taste — 
happy if the Muses have warmed and exalted 
your imagination and lifted your thoughts to the 
beautiful and sublime in Nature and Art. 

Then will you be able to draw from these 
ample stores, means to embellish your work and 
honor your profession. 

Finally, enter upon your duties with a full 
conviction of their importance and of your own 
individual responsibihty . - To become an accom- 
plished teacher, is in itself, a purpose worthy of 
your highest and noblest ambition. You must 
cherish this feeling, or you can have no motive 
to put forth suitable efforts to attain the end 
you have in view. 

The community is yet ungrateful and insen- 
sible to the importance of your service ; hence 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



129 



they offer you but a meager compensation, and 
give you but little encouragement. Still it is 
true that you "stand in the highest and best 
place that God has ordained to man." It is 
yours " to form a human soul to virtue, and to 
enrich it with knowledge — an office inferior 
only to creating power." You stand on holy 
ground ! 

"O, then, he wise! 

Be every measure of thy choice, to aid 

In forming deatliless intellect, the fniit 

Of earnest study, and of zealous care ; 

E'en looking to the boundless future of 

Its destiny. Thou may'st be popular, 

Perchance, but seek not popularity 

As motive-spring of any act, in thy 

Profession. Valiant be, and ever dare 

To do the right, tho' all the gathered hosts 
Of error may oppose. Then, if thou fail 
On Earth thy well-earned measure of applause 
To gain, that nobler tribute from the skies, 

' Well done, thou good and faithful servant,' shall 
Thy glorious mission crown." 



VIII. 

OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

TO PARENTS. 

The education of a young Prince or Princess 
is regarded in royal governments, as an impor- 
tant matter, aflfecting, as it must, the welfare of 
nations. The selection of a proper tutor for 
such an heir to the throne, always excites a 
deep interest and solicitude throughout the king- 
dom or empire. 

But we are a Nation of Sovereigns, and our 
children all princes of a future generation. 
Yet, with how little comparative solicitude, do 
parents and teachers in our community, enter 
upon the great work of Education. How little 
interest is felt in the character and success of 
our Common Schools. How small the capital 
invested in school-houses, apparatus, books and 
teachers, ( if we may judge by the amount paid 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 131 

for their services.) And do parents expect a 
liberal income from this investment ? Would 
they expect it in any other department of labor 
or trade, under similar circumstances ? Sup- 
pose the mechanic, the farmer, or the merchant 
should invest so meagerly, as a means of carry- 
ing on his business, what but a disgraceful 
failure would be the result? Yet there is no 
investment that pays so well as the necessary 
expense of a first class district school ; a spa- 
cious, convenient and tasteful house, a good 
apparatus and suitable books, and a well quali- 
fied, efficient and expensive (because well quali- 
fied) teacher. As a mere matter of dollars 
and cents, we rep6at it, no investment pai/s so 
well. 

Railroad and Bank stock is often belotv par. 
Manual and mechanical labor may, for various 
reasons, fail of their reward. But intellectual 
and moral culture, a sound and practical educa- 
tion for our children, is always available ; is a 
better security against future want, thaii any 
amount of money can he. 



132 OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

The great object which every parent professes 
to have in view is the welfare of his children. 
He spends toilsome days and sleepless nights 
for their support, protection and happiness while 
yet under the paternal roof. And the source 
of his solicitude in regard to their riper years, 
is that they may be well provided for and "well 
started in the world." But how often do parents 
misjudge in this important matter, and as a con- 
sequence, not only waste their own energies but 
ruin their children. The choice usually lays 
between the accumulation of wealth on the one 
hand, and the education of their children on the 
other, and in a majority of cases, their early edu- 
cation is neglected for the sake of saving money. 
To prove this, we have only to refer to our 
common schools, as they are. How poor and 
ill-adapted our school-houses; how destitute of 
suitable apparatus and books, as above sugges- 
ted ; how cheap many of the teachers employed. 
The reason assigned is that " the district is too 
poor to provide better." Still these parents 
have erected comfortable houses and splendid 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 133 

barns ; have emplo^'ed the most efficient help 
on their fiirms, and purchased the best imple- 
ments of hnsbandrj in the market. They are 
not too poor to provide well for their animals 
and the successful prosecution of their business, 
but too poor to ed/fcate their oldldren ! Now, it 
can be demonstrated that any family of children 
left in the world with no inheritance but a good 
character and a thorough education, are infi- 
nitely safer and more sure of an honorable 
livelihood, than with a fortune without the ad- 
vantages of education. How often the wealth 
accumulated by the industry^ self-denial and toil 
of a miserly father, who could not affoixl to edu- 
cate his children, has been squandered by his 
ignorant and dissipated sons. And how numer- 
ous the instances where children, reared in 
poverty but educated by the labor and self- 
denial of anxious parents, have risen, unaided, 
to stations of honor and affi' nC'\ 

Not only so, but these very children have 
come up to give their honored parents a liberal 
support, and to comfort them in their declining 

12 



134 OUIl COMMON SCHOOLS. 

years. These parents had "cast then- bread 
upon the waters, and found it again after many 
days." Such results are legitimate. Wealth 
"with ignorance is always a curse to the young ; 
poverty with education, always a blessing. 

Every considerate parent will therefore, make 
the first and most liberal outlay for the education 
of his children in the common school. He will 
not be satisfied until the school is provided with 
every facility for the greatest improvement and 
most thorough discipline. 

But the necessary expense of a good district 
school is a profitable investment, not only in 
view of the results upon the future welfare of 
our children, but in view of the increased value 
given to real estate, in any community. Where- 
ever the condition of our schools is improved, 
there, and in the same proportion, is the value 
of property increased. What is a good farm 
worth in Sodom ? Yet, the education of our 
children, in the proper sense of that term, is all 
that can prevent any district or neighborhood 
from becoming a Sodom. How then, is it pos^ 



OUR COMiMON SCHOOLS. 135 

slble for parents to manifest so little interest in 
the welfare of their schools ? Why bestow so 
little care upon the selection of teachers ? Why 
take so little interest in the school while in ope- 
ration ? 

The utmost caution should be exercised in the 
selection of the person to fill this high office, but 
when once employed, the good of the school 
requires that he shovild receive the encourage- 
ment and cooperation of the whole district. He 
may not prove to be as efficient as would be 
desirable, still he must be sustained. As long 
as he is allowed to hold the office of teacher, 
parents have no right to take sides against him. 
The influence of such opposition is always des- 
tructive of good order, and tends to foster a 
spirit of rebellion in the school. Better sustain 
an unworthy teacher than encourage insubordi- 
nation ; if he is to be dismissed, let it be done 
by the parents, and not by the pupils. 

But if parents would cooperate with their 
teacher and secure to their children the benefits 
of a good school, they must feel and manifest a. 



136 OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

deep interest in its success. The indifference of 
parents has chilled the enthusiasm and blasted 
the hopes of many an earnest teacher. When 
he entered the district his heart was warm and 
his hands strong for the important work assigned 
him ; but he found no sympathy, met with no 
encouragement, and received little or no atten- 
tion from his patrons. The cliildren imbibed 
the same spirit at home, and brought it to the 
school-room. Compelled to toil on alone and 
amid such discouragements, he gave up in des- 
pair, when, with suitable encouragement, he 
might have been successful. 

Parents should always have a mutual under- 
standing with their teacher. To this end, they 
should form an early and intimate acquaintance 
with him. And while he reveals to them his 
views and plans for the management and instruc- 
tion of his school, they should give assurances of 
their willingness and determination to aid him in 
carrying out his measures. They should fre- 
quently visit his school. This habit cannot fail 
to have a favorable influence both upon the 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 137 

teacher and the pupils. If the practice should 
become general in our community, the change 
would mark a new era in the history of common 
school education, and result in untold good. 
Not only are teachers quickened to activity and 
faithfulness and pupils to diligence by such visits, 
but parents are enabled to gain more correct 
views of the progress of their children, and the 
efficiency of their instructor. 

It is the duty of parents, also, cheerfully to 
furnish all necessary books and apparatus — not 
under the direction of interested book agents, but 
when the good of the school requires it. All 
scholars of the same standing must have uniform 
books in order to be properly classified, and 
sometimes the old should give place to the new 
and improved books, for the entire class. It is 
admitted, however, that uniformity is more im- 
portant than change. Apparatus is needed to aid 
in the explanation of principles and facts ; good 
books, black-boards, maps, globes, cube-blocks, 
et csetera, are the tools for our " artist," and he 
should not be required to work without them. 

12* 



138 OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

Again, parents should not indulge their chil- 
dren in irregular attendance, or withdraw them 
temporarily from' the school, except in cases of 
absolute necessity. Such irregularity is dis- 
heartening to the teacher, and injurious both to 
the school and the individual scholar ; it tends 
to destroy his interest in the school and his abil- 
ity to retain an honorable standing in his classes. 
It is the manifest duty of every parent, there- 
fore, to insist upon punctuality in attendance 
and promptness in the discharge of every school 
duty. 

Once more, we may remark, parents should 
never publicly censure the teacher for supposed 
faults. Too often has he been tried, condemned 
and executed without a hearing. A rebel chas- 
tised in school, has told his grievances to 
indulgent parents at home ; they beUeve his 
exaggerated story, manifest their sympathy, 
and, without stopping to learn the facts in 
the case, pass judgment against the teacher. 
Now the offended parties proceed to excite pre- 
judice, and create feeling in the school and 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 139 

district in view of this fancied outrage, until 
half the neighborhood are in open rebellion 
against a faithful master, whose only fault is 
that he did not crush the offender while in his 
power. But such sympathy and opposition are 
all wrong ; unjust to the teacher, injurious to the 
child and ruinous to the school. The teacher 
has a right, in all cases, to demand a fair trial 
before condemnation, and it is his duty to main- 
tain supremacy over his school, at all hazards 
and by whatever means necessary. If the pupil 
or parent can rightfully interfere, the teacher's 
oJEce is divested of its power and the school of 
its utility. 

Let parents consider well the toils and hard- 
ships of the true teacher, and learn to coope- 
rate and sympathize with him ; let them pay 
him a fair compensation for his valuable services, 
and render him all needed encouragement and 
aid ; then may they hope to secure for them- 
selves, their children and their country, the 
lasting benefits of a thorough Common School 
Education. 



110 OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

TO PUPILS. 

The children and youth in our families and 
common schools, have also a deep interest in our 
subject. Indeed, the good that may be accom- 
plished by our educational system as it is, and 
the desirable improvements that should be made, 
depend very much upon the pupils themselves. 
The best teacher in the nation, and the best 
school-house, and the best books, will not, neces- 
sarily, make good scholars or secure the desira- 
ble advantages of a good school. Those pupils 
who choose to remain ignorant, and become 
vicious in spite of instruction, may always suc- 
ceed. If, on the other hand, there is a full 
determination to learn, and a consciousness of 
individual responsibility, scholars will improve 
with limited advantages and little instruction, or 
with no instruction at all. How many of the 
great and good men of our country have reached 
the high places of honor and usefulness, with 
even less advantages than the pupils in our 
common schools at present enjoy. When young, 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 141 

thej felt the importance of self-reliance and per- 
severance, wliicli alone can insure improvement 
and give success under any circumstances. By 
industry, economy and laborious effort, tliey sur- 
mounted every obstacle and gained tlie desired 
object. Whether the school shall be good or 
bad, depends as much upon the scholars as 
the teacher. It must follow, therefore, that 
there are mutual and reciprocal duties to be 
performed. JN'ot a child nor a youth attends 
our Summer or Winter schools who is not, in a 
measure responsible for the good or bad results 
of the teacher's efforts ; who lias not power to 
aid in improving and elevating the school, or in 
rendering it worse than useless. The pupils 
have not to perform the duties of the teacher or 
parents, but those peculiar to their own sphere 
and withhi the reach of their own ability. 

How then, shall they be qualified to act their 
part ? We answer — first, they must improve 
all their time and opportunities to the best 
advantage. The minutes gathered up from the 
strand of youth, are indeed the golden sands in 



142 OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

the hour-glass of life. Will our pupils allow them 
to run out in indolence or folly ? If so, man- 
hood will become a barren waste, or a frightful 
desert. This is true when applied to intellec- 
tual improvement. With diligence and perse- 
verance, any youth in our common schools may 
become a good scholar ; may acquire a substan- 
tial, thorough education, sufficient for all the 
ordinary pursuits of life. All should aim, while 
yet in the primary school, to become good read- 
ers, writers and accountants, and to acquaint 
themselves with the Constitution of their country 
and the laws of their moral being. If school- 
houses are poor and books ill-adapted ; if teach- 
ers are inefficient and parents indifferent, pujnls 
should feel more interest and put forth greater 
efforts ; should resolve to overcome all these 
obstacles and become men and women worthy 
of the age and country in which they live. 

It is important, also, that the youth in our 
schools, should realize the danger of bad habits. 
Many suppose that it is brave and manly to 
disregard the authority of parents and teachers ; 



OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 145 

to indulge in roguery, dishonesty and profanity. 
But all such should remember that the false, 
vulgar, "wicked boy, is on the direct way to a 
useless, vicious manhood, and a miserable old 
age. Every act, thought and feehng of child- 
hood and youth, has an influence in determin- 
ing what manhood shall be. School-life for the 
pupil, is emphatically a preparation for the 
future ; the seed-time whose harvest will be 
"wheat" or "tares," joy or sorrow, according 
to the seed which is sown. Pupils should act 
from principle, and always dare to do right. A 
true spirit consists in following the dictates of a 
noble nature, and he alone is a coward who can 
be shamed out of his principles. 

And let it not be forgotten that it is the 
teacher's business to govern and the scholar's 
duty to obey. The relations they sustain to 
each other make this necessary, and all well 
disposed scholars will aim to comply exactly 
with the regulations of school. The interests of 
both teacher and pupils are the same. The true 
teacher labors and lives only for those committed 



144 OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

to his care ; his lionor is in their progress, and 
his happiness in their highest good. Those who 
disturb his plans or hinder his success, therefore, 
triumph in their OAvn defeat and glory in their 
own shame. 

Our common schools should be the hest schools 
in the town, county and state. To secure this 
object, not only must good school-houses be 
provided, w^ell qualified teachers employed, and 
a deep interest felt by parents in the welfare 
and improvement of the school, but pupils must 
be docile and obedient — prompt, punctual and 
faithful in the discharge of all their duties. 
Then we should find in our families and commu- 
nity, better sons and daughters, kinder brothers 
and sisters, truer friends, nobler patriots, more 
virtuous, more devoted, more faithful servants 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



TESTIMONIAT^S. 



To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. — Tliis may certify that I 
have read Avitli much interest and satisfaction, a book enti- 
tled "Hints to Common School Teacliers, Parents and Pupils ; 
or Gleaninji's from School-Life Experience," by Hiram 
Orcutt, A. M., Principal of the North Granville Ladies' Sem- 
inary, X. Y. It is the production of a successful teacher, of 
long experience. I leoard it a most excellent work, f^r 
exceedln<2: anything of the kind Avhich I have seen. The 
true methods of management, discipline and instruction 
of common schools, are clearly pointed out and the duties of 
parents and pupils well defined. The book is just what its 
author designed to make it, — cheap, suggestive and practical, 
and hence very valuable for eveiy teacher, school committee 
and parent in the nation. UEN.l. GREEXLKAF, 

Late Principal of the Bradford (Blass.) Acadeiiij/, and Au- 
thor of a popular series/f Mathematical Works. 

Bradford, :Mass., August, 18')8. 



I believe Mr. Orcutt's " Gleanings from School-Life Expe- 
rience" are just what the inexperienced teacher needs to fore- 
warn him of danger, and to prepare him to encounter suc- 
cessfully the trials of the school-room. The book is also 
so cheap that every teacher can afford to buy it; so small 
that he can easily read it through; and so perspicuous and 
l)ractical that he cannot fail to i)rofit by the perusal. 

LEONAPtD TEXNEY, 
Lafe School CoiiDuissiotier in Neic Ifainpshire. 

Thetford, August, 185S. 



TESTIMONIALS. 

Normal Institute, Koyaltou, Vt., Sept. 1858. 

HiRAai Okcutt,A. M.,Dear Sir:— The " Gleanings" have 
come. I am delighted with it. Firpt of all,- 1 am right glad 
that you have had the moral courage to WTitc and publish a 
SMALL -work. 

In these daj's Avlion every man must write his book, whether 
lie knows anything or thinks anything or not, and that too. 
a daodecirao of four hundred pages, it is i-eally refreshing to 
get a little hook from a man wlio has something to say, and 
dares say it and stop. There is a touch of the heroic and an 
added smaclc of classical antiquity in it tliat greatly prepos- 
sess one. 

The subjects of the book are the best and weigliticst pos- 
sible, and presented in the highest moods of your own 
felicitous style. It h\ a frame irorlc ,of iron, all fall of the 
breath of life, on trhirhhe vlw reada atte.ntii-ely can hardly fail 
to build a structure Jionorable to himself and his profession. I 
have introduced the book to my teachers class; it evi- 
dently pleases them, and I shall be much disappointed if it 
tiocs not profit them equally. Tours with respect, 

i:. CONANT, Pjincipal. 



Extracts IVom a Icitcr received from Prof. (jEOKGE "NV. 
Gardner, Principal of New London Institution, and School 
Commissioner, New London, N. H. 

" I thank you for the sheets of your forthcoming work. 
I have read them Avith some care. It v/ill do good. I am 
dad to hear you sjjeak out about some things, which ought 
to meet stern rebuke. The chapter on ' Study and Recita- 
tion ' is one of great interest to me, treating, as it does, of 
some things not often touched >ipon. Your remarks upon 
the ' Lecture System ' arc jxist. [ liave seen it out and out. 
and am ready to ])ronouftce against it, as means of eAucatinx, 
* * * I am persuatled, as a general thing, teachers talk too 
much and require pupils to talk' too little." 



TESTIMONIALS. 

- I have read with great pleasure the clo.inj,^ chapters sent 
mc since writing; the above. I am more than ever convinced 
that it will he a good book and supply an important place m 
the Common School Teacher's wants . " 

Chicago, Feb. 28, 1859. 
HiuAM Okcutt, ESQ., Principal of North Granville Ladie.' 
Seminary : . ^ ;.. 4.1 . 

Dear Sir :-Ihave examined with much satisfaction the 
successive sheets of your " Gleanings from School-Life 
Experience," and take pleasure in commending the work to 
the favorable regard of Teachers and other friends of Educa- 
tion The views it presents are sound and practical, it 
works of this character were more studied by Teachers, our 
schools would be greatly benefited. Yours, very truly 

W. II. " ELLh. 
Supt. Chicago FvhJir ,SV-/.oo/s aiul nvfhor of a popular 
KiKjh'.fh Grammar. 

Boston, Feb. 27, 1859. 
Prof. Hiram ORCUTT-My Dear Sir:-Ihave i-ead the 
V,roof sheets of your admirable little volume entitled ' Glean- 
ino-s from School-Life Experience," which you had the 
kindness to forward to me, with pleasure as well as proht. 
L consider it a valuable contribution to the educational litera- 
ture of the day, and should be glad to see it widely circulated 
among Teachers and Parents. I rejoice tp learn that its 
merits have been so well appreciated as to make it necessary 
for the publishers so soon to issue a second edition. 

I ^hall take great pleasure in commending it to the atten- 
tion of persons connected with the instruction or supervision 
of schools, confident that I shall thus promote the interests 
of sound Christian education. I remain very truly yours, 
JOHN D. PHILBRICK, 

Supt. Boston Public Schools. 



